In November of 2022, the Silver Queen cargo ship departed Vietnam’s Hai Phong province bound for the Americas. Its hull, a bright white reflecting its name, was emblazoned with huge block letters: VINFAST, and was chock full of 999 made-in-Vietnam electric vehicles.
This was a big moment for a country, and a manufacturing industry, that just two decades ago, was mostly churning out sneakers and sweatshirts. Electric cars were a step toward developing its own homegrown heavy industries and moving its way up global supply chains to high-tech, high-value goods.
The period of optimism that followed, however, as local media tracked the Silver Queen’s journey across the Pacific, was to be short-lived. On arrival in the United States, the reviews were less than positive and sales were lacklustre at best.
As it stands, with limited demand for its electric cars and a balance sheet that recorded a loss of more than US$2 billion last year, scrutiny of the firm’s financials and product quality has been extensive drawing the lion’s share of the organic (as opposed to paid) international press coverage of the firm.
That said, how VinFast has managed its brand image and narrative also offers some interesting insights into the company and, by extension, how media relations work in Vietnam.
Firstly, VinFast’s approach to managing media criticism has been, in a Western context, quite unique.
In 2021, for example, when VinFast was barely taking its first steps, a Vietnamese YouTuber made a video highlighting what he perceived to be a number of shortcomings in a VinFast vehicle. In response, VinFast referred the YouTuber to the police for essentially what amounts to defamation, claiming what he had said was “untrue”.
Of note, this quickly turned into a win for VinFast with the video taken down at the mere threat of police intervention, but VinFast also went a step further taking the opportunity to shoot a shot across the bow for other media commentators.
“If a similar incident were to occur when operating in the United States, we will also submit a request to the authorities in accordance with local law, and to protect our legal rights,” the company said in a statement made to Reuters.
Of course, this is a risky strategy with the optics of a huge conglomerate referring a paying customer to the police for being unsatisfied with a product unlikely to play well with Western audiences, the absurdity of which likely why Reuters was asking questions in the first place.
Indeed, this should have been seen as an early indicator that the company’s communication practices and the expectations of the international press were not aligned although if it was acknowledged, any adjustments made did not seem to make any material impact.
Case in point, a press junket organised by VinFast, a year or so later, to show off its new cars was run in a very normal way for Vietnamese press junkets though not so much for Western media professionals.
“It was the most bizarre experience of my life,” journalist Kevin Williams wrote in a piece for online automotive news site Jalopnik, concluding “…All I know is I flew more than 8,000 miles, learned nothing, and drove a car that was not ready for the United States.”
Indeed, what was readily apparent in Williams’ reporting was that VinFast had put the emphasis on showing the reporters and influencers a good time rather than on its product, a fairly standard practice in Vietnam. However, it’s generally the other way around in the Western world, with the product coming first and then a good time only if there is enough time. On that note, reading Williams’ report it feels a lot like the bells and whistles actually frustrated the situation more than they helped.
Incidentally, one journalist on the same trip also reported being offered a payment of US$10,000 to attend. He refused, which is fairly standard practice in Western media with gifts and cash bringing into question the integrity of a journalist’s work. Paying attendees at press events in Vietnam, however, is actually very normal.
Notably, this also didn’t play well in the international press.
“Even if these claims ended up being false, and we have little reason to suspect they are, it sounds like VinFast isn’t producing a very competitive product, to begin with,” Stephen Rivers at Car Scoops wrote of the reports.
But it’s not just how VinFast has handled the media, but also what it has said to the press, or not said as the case has often been, that has also been problematic.
When the contracts of four foreign executives ended prematurely, though reportedly by mutual agreement, VinFast explained to Reuters that “Adjustment in human resources is a common business practice around the world. VinFast is no exception.”
One high-profile exit? Sure. Two? Maybe. But four? Something was clearly very wrong, again likely why Reuters was asking questions. Brushing it off as normal, therefore, makes it look like the company is either obfuscating to avoid the truth or that it genuinely doesn’t recognise the situation as a problem, both equally problematic.
But whereas vague and open to interpretation might be common in Vietnamese communication, notably with various cultural meanings and significance, elsewhere in the world, particularly in the US, there is a preference for clear, detailed, and direct.
That’s not to say that greater transparency and clearer messaging could have resolved critical flaws in VinFast’s product and balance sheet, but rather that it could have helped to limit brand and reputation damage, not just for the car maker but for the Made in Vietnam brand more broadly.
That said, it’s not clear that this has even been identified as an issue at VinFast. Of note, the company is still holding steady on guidance that it will sell 80,000 vehicles this year even when by the end of the third quarter it had sold barely half of that.
And in actual fact, it may not be an issue moving forward with VinFast anyway, with the firm waylaying its North Carolina factory in favour of expanding its operations in Indonesia and India, markets that operate more in line with what Vietnamese businesses are used to.
That said, whatever happens next, there are lessons to be learned from VinFast’s experience in cross-cultural media engagement, chief among them that a firm should expect to adapt to the local media environment because it is unlikely that it will happen the other way around.
Side note: If you’re struggling to connect with your target market or you just want to do it better I’m available to provide market and communications support on a freelance basis. You can reach me via LinkedIn – Mark.