(CORRECTS production scale-up in paragraph 7 to 150,000 units, not 250,000 units)
By Nandan Mandayam and Aditi Shah
NEW DELHI (Reuters) -Vietnamese electric vehicle maker VinFast will enter the Indian market with two premium electric SUVs, taking on homegrown rival Mahindra & Mahindra and China’s BYD, which already has a presence in the world’s third largest car market.
VinFast unveiled its VF6 and VF7 SUVs at the India Auto Show in New Delhi, as it hopes to draw buyers to its EVs and contribute to India’s goals of eliminating carbon emissions on a net basis, said Pham Sanh Chau, VinFast’s Asia CEO.
“We are turning our focus to India – our next growth frontier,” Chau told reporters.
Nasdaq-listed VinFast counts North America and Vietnam as its primary markets but is trying to expand aggressively elsewhere. But the automaker has been reporting deepening losses as EV demand softens.
Electric models accounted for about 2.5% of the more than 4 million vehicles sold in India last year. The government, targeting 30% by 2030, is working on a programme to attract EV makers.
VinFast said last year it would invest $500 million in India over five years to build a car and battery factory, now under construction in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, and launch new car models.
The factory will have an initial capacity of 50,000 cars a year and can be scaled up to 150,000 based on demand, Chau said, adding the company is appointing dealers in India and studying investments in setting up charging infrastructure.
Like Tesla, VinFast has sought a reduction from the Indian government on the 100% import tax on fully built EVs to allow it to launch cars while its factory comes online. The move has been opposed by domestic automakers.
(Reporting by Nandan Mandayam and Aditi Shah in New Delhi; Editing by William Mallard)
