Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc (centre) and other officials cut the ribbon to inaugurate the VinFast automobile manufacturing factory on June 14. (Photo: VNA)
VinFast, a subsidiary of Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup, officially opened its automobile manufacturing plant at the Dinh Vu Industrial Park in the northern city of Hai Phong on June 14.
This factory is the most important part of the VinFast automobile and e-scooter production complex, whose construction began on September 2, 2017.
Covering more than 500,000sq.m. of the complex’s 335ha area, the plant is designed to manufacture 250,000 cars each year in the first phase, which will be raised to 500,000 in the second phase in 2025. It can churn out 38 cars per hour.
Almost a third of the plant site has been set aside for potential supporting industry partners seeking to put up their own plants. VinFast targets using 60 percent local parts in its cars and 100 percent for electric motorbikes.
Besides leading the regional market in terms of scale and modernity, VinFast is also the first local car plant to have a production process that is completely synchronized, closed and almost fully automatic with six workshops for stamping, welding, painting, engine production and assembly.
Workshops of the plant are connected uninterruptedly and highly automated. It is now the only factory in Vietnam able to perform the core automobile production steps, including producing the main parts of a car like chassis and engine.
These workshops were connected to various robots and smart manufacturing monitors to maximize productivity.
VinFast is the only local carmaker that can make major car parts, such as engines.
Besides this, the plant has set three world records, including reaching completion three months ahead of schedule. It took the plant 21 months to complete construction work and install a production chain for mass production. Also, it rolled out sample cars 11 months after the plant was built. Further, VinFast commercial cars were launched on the market in less than two years.
Bodies of cars have been painted at a paint workshop of the newly-launched VinFast car factory in Haiphong City. (Photo: Courtesy of Vingroup)
“I would like to express my deep gratitude to all customers who have ordered our VinFast cars. Your trust and support is so great, we are committed to continuing our efforts to affirm the level and position of the Vietnamese brand in the international arena, we will not disappoint you,” said chairman of Vingroup Pham Nhat Vuong at the inauguration ceremony of the plant.
Addressing the opening ceremony, Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc, who expressed his surprise at the record construction speed of 650 days, highly valued efforts by the factory’s leaders and workers, noting that the record construction speed shows their great aspiration and enthusiasm to create a miracle in the auto industry of Vietnam and the world. The aspiration and idea are what it takes to lead a firm to its triumph.
This not only proves that Vietnamese people can do what the world can do, but also contributes to national socioeconomic achievements, especially when Vietnam is striving to reach the goal of becoming an industrialized and developed country by 2045.
He added that VinFast’s success has an important meaning for the economy. Hai Phong’s revenue from VinFast this year is estimated at VND8 trillion ($342.7 million) and over VND15 trillion ($614.7 million) in 2020.
"The success of VinFast today is a feat of Vietnam's automobile industry, helping the country reach global levels and affirming that the private sector is an important driving force," Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc said at the plant's inauguration ceremony.
Phuc referred VinFast as a big guy being next to the giants in the auto industry. As such, VinFast ought to leverage its internal strength and be bold to cooperate with rivals to enhance its power and grow big.
The PM asked VinFast to actively cooperate with other Vietnamese carmakers to together gain a firm foothold in the domestic market and soon enter regional and global markets.
"Its development is inseparable from supporting industries. All major manufacturers have suppliers. I want VinFast to be a pioneer in setting a vision for the Vietnamese supporting industry to improve," the PM said.
VinFast made a record in the world’s automobile industry for its rapid production plant set up.
In the era of Industry 4.0, VinFast has to take the lead in market and technology trends, which will determine the success or failure of any industry, including the automobile industry, where the accumulation of knowledge and the origin of many technological discoveries spread to many other industries. Investing in research and development is the key to acquiring valuable knowledge not only for VinFast but also for Vietnam.
VinFast’s development cannot be separated from support industries as well as global automobile corporations such as Toyota, Honda, Hyundai, Mercedes Benz, and BMW as well as other large industrial groups like Samsung and LG.
The Prime Minister expects VinFast to set its vision as a leader in addressing Vietnam’s support industry’s weaknesses.
The Vietnamese market is a cradle for Vietnamese tech enterprises but to grow and compete they must go global. Global competition is the best test of technology and industrial enterprises. VinFast must also compete globally, but Vietnamese people must also prioritize the consumption of Vietnamese goods. The quality must certainly be good and the price reasonable, and this would be an expression of patriotism to help Vietnam to rise and reach out, the Prime Minister said. VinFast can go from assembly but must be a Vietnamese tech enterprise with the ability to “Make in Vietnam”.
With the opening of the factory, the Prime Minister called on Vietnamese enterprises, especially those with financial potential, to invest in developing technology and industry, not only for the future of Vietnam but also for the future of the enterprises themselves, as technology and industry are the answer to the sustainable development of the country and its enterprises.
At the event, Vice Chairman and Director General of Vingroup Nguyen Viet Quang said during the 21-month factory construction, VinFast also completed and debuted one e-scooter and three automobile models.
After the inauguration of the factory, VinFast will organise the handover of the first batch of cars to its customers, meeting the committed deadline two months earlier than scheduled. The Fadil will be delivered from June 17 while the first Lux A2.0 and Lux SA2.0 cars will be handed over to customers in late July.
Currently, VinFast is rounding up its design for 12 other car models and electric motorbikes, which are expected to be ready right in 2019 and 2020.
Earlier, VinFast inaugurated an e-scooter manufacturing factory and developed three car models within only 12 months. Aside from the project implementation in the shortest period of time, it also received 10,000 orders one year prior to the first delivery.
VinFast has set completely new records in the world’s auto industry, Quang added.
VinFast, a unit of Vietnam’s largest private firm Vingroup, unveiled its first made-in-Vietnam cars in March. It had showed off prototypes of its first two high-end car models at the Paris Motor Show in France last October.
