EV maker VinFast opens first Canada store, plans seven more

VinFast, Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup’s electric vehicle maker, launched its first Canadian store on Wednesday and plans to open seven more before the year-end.

The first showroom is at Yorkdale Shopping Center in Toronto, Ontario. Meanwhile, the seven additional stores would be located at CF Carrefour Laval in Quebec, and Park Royal Shopping Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia, VinFast said the same day.

The Vietnamese EV maker’s Canadian network is part of its go-to-market strategy, in which the eight retail and service centers opening in 2022 will be the first in a system of locations to build up its relations with local customers.

“Opening of the first store in Canada marks the next milestone in VinFast's global expansion journey,” said Huynh Du An, CEO of VinFast Canada.

At the Paris Motor Show 2022 on October 17-23, where the manufacturer introduced four EV models VF 6, VF 7, VF 8, and VF 9 from five seaters onward, VinFast announced it would open three headquarters in Paris, Frankfurt, and Amsterdam to deepen its global footprint. However, it has so far not disclosed the timeline for its three European headquarters.

VinFas had opened its first six U.S. stores in California in July. The stores display, introduce, and sell VinFast electric cars directly to American consumers.

In the same month, the carmaker said it had secured about $1.2 billion in incentives for its planned EV U.S. factory in North Carolina, at the Triangle Innovation Point in Chatham County, where it plans to start production in 2024. Later the same month, the firm added it had signed agreements with banks to raise at least $4 billion for the U.S. EV and battery manufacturing complex.

The EV maker said this April it had filed for an initial public offering (IPO) in the U.S. shortly after the firm secured a memorandum of understanding with North Carolina’s government to establish the complex. It has not updated the IPO process but its chief financial officer David Mansfield said in the U.S. this September the IPO could happen sometime in 2023.

VinFast and China-based battery maker Contemporary Amperex Technology last month entered their global strategic cooperation, with a focus on skateboard chassis products.