Philippines seeks collaboration with Vietnam’s VinFast in EV production: President Marcos

The Philippines “eagerly anticipates collaborating with Vingroup on electric vehicle (EV) production and local mineral processing,” Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. posted on his Facebook page on Monday.

The president made the statement at a meeting in Hanoi with Pham Nhat Vuong, chairman and founder of Vingroup and CEO of Vingroup automobile arm VinFast, part of his ongoing Vietnam visit on January 29-30 .

“The Philippines is fortunate to have all the necessary ingredients to produce batteries for electric vehicles, with abundant reserves of cobalt, copper and nickel. However, it has still been exporting raw ores. The government is working to increase the value of the Philippine economy by processing them domestically and expects to be able to establish a battery factory. This is in line with Vingroup’s vision,” President Ferdinand Marcos Jr said.

The Philippines is revamping its transportation sector, phasing out aging combustion engine vehicles and implementing a modernization plan. Securing a source of electric vehicles is crucial, according to the president. The Philippines has already enacted laws that support electric vehicles and encourage importing EVs components, aiming to attract foreign investors for domestic assembly. This domestic production boost will add value to the nation’s economy, the president added.

VinFast currently operates one factory in Vietnam’s northern coastal city of Hai Phong, with an annual capacity of 250,000 units, which can be expanded to 950,000.

In July 2023, VinFast began building its EV and battery production complex in North Carolina, the U.S., with around $4 billion in total investment. The plant will span an area of approximately 1,800 acres and is expected to commence production in 2025.

In January 2024, Vingroup said VinFast and the government of Tamil Nadu state of India had reached a memorandum of understanding, in which the former will build a $500 million EV facility, towards a total investment of $2 billion. This move indicates a significant step in VinFast’s expansion into the world’s third-largest vehicle market, according to Vingroup.

Also in the month, Indonesian President Joko Widodo visited VinFast’s EV manufacturing complex in Hai Phong city. He pledged to create conditions for VinFast to complete procedures to invest and do business in the Indonesian market. Earlier in September 2023, VinFast revealed plans to invest up to $1.2 billion in Indonesia as it was looking to expand operations in Asia. The Vietnamese EV player plans to pour approximately $150-200 million to establish a Completely Knocked Down (CKD) facility in the neighboring country with production capacity of between 30,000 and 50,000 cars per year.

VinFast delivered 34,855 electric vehicles (EV) around the world in 2023, according to a filing with U.S.-based stock exchange Nasdaq. The year’s total included 13,513 EVs delivered in the last quarter of 2023, up 35% over the previous quarter. From 2021 when it made its first delivery to end-2023, VinFast had delivered 42,291 EVs globally.