It sounds a bit unexpected, but as of now, the third largest automaker in the world by capitalization is Vietnamese Vinfast, which has overtaken such well-known companies as Porsche, BYD, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, Volkswagen, Stellantis, Ferrari, and others. The only ones VinFast Auto is currently inferior to are Tesla and Toyota, writes Reuters.
VinFast was founded in Hai Phong, northern Vietnam, in 2017 by businessman Pham Nhat Vyong, who is well known in Ukraine for his Mivina instant noodle brand. In 2010, he sold his business in Ukraine to Nestle for $150 million and returned to Vietnam. VinFast is the first automotive brand in Vietnam and focuses on electric cars and scooters.
The company collaborates with Pininfarina, BMW, and Magna Steyr designers, and although it produced only 7,400 cars in 2022, almost 100% of which remained in Vietnam, the transition to Singapore's financial jurisdiction and access to the stock market was extremely successful for VinFast. Due to the small number of publicly traded shares, and 99.7% of the shares being controlled by Pham Nhat Vương himself, their price immediately soared, giving VinFast an incredible estimated capitalization of $191.23 billion, compared to $100 billion for Porsche, $226.31 billion for Toyota, and $758.01 billion for Tesla.
Although the numbers look really fantastic, this is only a temporary trend of investor interest and the result of a lack of free shares. The small VinFast, with a plan of 50 thousand cars, is not yet able to compete with Tesla, with its planned 1.8 million cars in 2023. But one can only envy the Vietnamese businessman's audacity and drive.