Vietnam's VinFast Preparing to Sell Electric Crossovers in the U.S.

• VinFast, Vietnam’s first car company, announced it has established U.S. headquarters and said that showrooms will open in California soon.

• The company plans to enter the U.S. market with two electric crossovers, the VFe35 and the VFe36, and is targeting to start sales in March 2022.

• VinFast has an 8.4 percent share of the market in Vietnam but said it will need to raise additional funds to finance its global expansion.

VinFast became Vietnam’s first domestic carmaker in 2019, when it started selling two gasoline-powered vehicles, the Lux A2.0 sedan and the Lux SA2.0 crossover, in its home market. Now the fledgling company has announced plans to expand into North America and Europe, with the goal of starting sales in the United States in March 2022. The automaker's global lineup will be centered around electric crossovers.

VinFast sold around 30,000 vehicles in Vietnam last year. The company has yet to make a profit but is quickly growing in Vietnam, becoming the fourth most popular car brand there this year, with an 8.3 percent share of the market. The company is part of Vietnam’s largest conglomerate, known as Vingroup JSC. In a statement Monday, Vinfast said it has opened offices in North America and Europe, with aims to open showrooms in California soon. The company also added that Van Anh Nguyen, CEO of VinFast's U.S. operation, recently moved from Vietnam to the U.S.