Posted on 01/26/2024 9:13:51 PM PST by cba123
A number of electric car manufacturers in Vietnam plan to launch mini models, with the world increasingly interested in and strongly committed to reducing emissions.
After signing a strategic cooperation agreement with the joint venture of General Motors and SAIC-Wuling on the manufacturing, assembling, and exclusive distribution of electric vehicles (EVs) in Vietnam, Hoang Minh Dong, director of TMT Motor, said the company would officially launch two versions of the Wuling HongGuang Mini EV and announce its sales policy on June 29-30 in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City.
The Wuling HongGuang Mini EV includes a standard and fully enhanced version. Each version will have the option of a battery capacity of 9.6kWh or 13.4kWh, for a maximum travel distance of 120 km and 170 km, respectively.
TMT Motor stated it has the sole authorisation to manufacture, assemble, and distribute the EV models in Vietnam, and that Wuling would support its production by providing auto parts to ensure quality and delivery. Because of its tiny size, elegant design, and flexible space with four seats, the Mini EV will be a new option within the lower price range of many Vietnamese clients.
According to Dong, the selling price will give people with average incomes of about $650 per month the chance to access
the cars. “The reason for choosing this mini EV model comes from the fact that TMT Motor found that this EV belongs to a segment the market is lacking, and will meet the needs of customers with a stable design and reliable quality,” he said, adding that the model is a bestseller in China.
Chinese car manufacturers will soon land in the Vietnamese market with many mini EV models. The Chinese EV manufacturer Zhidou displayed the A01 model at the Autotech & Accessories 2023 exhibition in Ho Chi Minh City. This is a small EV model, introduced specifically for moving in the inner city.
Zhidou said it would enter into a joint venture with a domestic partner to assemble this model. The Zhidou A01 model will go on sale in Vietnam in the next three months.
Meanwhile, at Vingroup’s annual general shareholders’ meeting, billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong revealed a new direction for VinFast, which is to expand and develop A-class mini EVs.
“We are deploying until the end of 2024 to launch a tiny, low-priced, beautiful car. In the next few weeks, we will announce the details. Towards becoming the world’s top car company, we will not ignore any product that the market needs,” said Vuong.
(...)
“Mini EVs are expected to become a trend in the Vietnamese car market, meeting the needs of personal mobility, especially in urban areas. However, they also have limitations in terms of range and speed compared to larger vehicles. The development of charging infrastructure is also a challenge for mini versions,” said Nguyen Dinh Thong, director of the Automotive Training Centre.
This article is different, it shows the first three competing inexpensive cars, to enter the Vietnam market in the next year or so. The first one, the Wuling is now available, the other two in the next months. Or in the case of the last one. In about a year.
This does not focus on one car. Or çar maker.
Though the third is coming to America, in about one year
However this is not about one car model.
Let's see if this is more acceptable.
😎
In your opinion do the Vietnamese cars have the potential to follow the same path as Korean cars have done in the past 20+ years?
VinFast is huge here.
For that company, absolutely.
They are pretty much it at the current time however. The other two are sort of importing parts from China and assembling the cars here.
However all three are assembling the cars here.
Saves big on tarrifs, from just importing them.
(I think)
Not certain of the construction of the first and the second, autos.
I (think) they are built that way, but don’t quote me on that, either one.
VinFasy I am very comfortable about. 😎
Biden was in Vietnam in September to boost trade deals between them and the U.S. Makes me wonder what business dealings the Biden crime family have going on within Vietnam.
For all the things we can criticize Biden about, deservedly. I really truly believe Vietnam is very important.
They are relatively small, it is pretty darned crowded here, but there is something just …. nice about Vietnam, and Vietnamese.
It is like the smaller, nicer, friendlier … China.
We should work hard at building our relationship with them.
I believe they are the single country in the entire world, which most likes America.
#1
It really is remarkable the affection the Vietnamese have for the United States.
Back in the early 2000s I worked with a bunch of international graduate students and by far the friendliest towards me was the Vietnamese student. He was from Hanoi in north Vietnam and should have hated me but it was just the opposite.
They haven't been important since the day my only brother was shipped there in 1966 with the U.S. Army. He spent a year in the jungle fighting an enemy he could not see, and trying not to be shot by his own people. Two of my high school friends were killed there. We've still have war dead in Vietnam that have not been repatriated. The war in Vietnam was just another proxy war we fought against Russia and China. Nothing's changed since then. You can put lipstick on a pig, but it's still a pig. China and Vietnam are both communist countries, and the only people who will get rich off of trade deals with them, are the same people who get rich off of wars: Politicians on both sides of the aisles, their family members and friends, and their big donors. I hope you're not planning on Vietnam choosing the U.S. over China, because it will never happen. In December, just three months after Joe's visit, China and Vietnam agreed to build a better relationship based on trust and cooperation.
China’s Xi pushes more trust with Vietnam after Hanoi’s move closer to Washington
Sorry.
:My wife and I spent 2 months in Vietnam (late 2022) awaiting immigration papers to move to Japan where we now live.
We spent time in both Ho Chi Minh (former Saigon) and spent most of our time in Hanoi. My opinion is also informed by lengthy conversations with my brother who was an English school teacher in Ho Chi Minh for 10 years and recently left to retire in the U.S.
The word the story never mentions but is a huge component of transportation in Vietnam is "motocycle". In fact, it's easy to believe that 90 to 95% of vehicles on the road today in Vietnam are motocycles -- most of them sold by Honda.
If you ride the streets of Hanoi or Ho Chi Minh, there are a few taxis and private vehicles, but the city streets are "owned" -- big time -- by motorcycles.
Any market where electric cars will sell must first have a thriving market for ICE cars. But if you look at international stats, Vietnam is way down the list of motor vehicles per capita. See the Wiki statistics.
Motor vehicles per 1,000 people are shown below with a focus on Southeast Asia (for in-region comparisons):
America - 908 MV per 1,000 people
Italy - 755
Japan - 661
Malaysia - 542
South Korea - 526
Taiwan - 365
Thailand - 280
China - 221
Singapore - 149
Myanmar - 138
Philippines - 120
Hong Kong - 109
Indonesia - 82
Vietnam - 53
Cambodia - 27
Laos (not listed)
Papua New Guinea - 14
North Korea - 1 MV per 1,000 people
So if you're looking for "hot markets" for electric vehicles, Vietnam is pretty far down the checklist of likely winning markets.
The other thing to look at is infrastructure. Yes, Vietnam is still a communist country. My brother was afraid to put his money in a Vietnamese bank because they don't play by global banking rules. Tomorrow all your assets could be seized.
In Ho Chi Minh city we used to walk by the subway entrance to a planned advanced Japanese-built subway/train for the city. But apparently the project has been at a standstill for years. Meanwhile Taiwan, a far more advanced country has a high-speed rail system based on Japan's Shinkansen (bullet train) system.
Finally, Vietnam has severe public infrastructure problems, as is the case with all so-called "third world" nations. So if you think charging stations are hard to find in America...
Is Vinfast the Vietmaneese company building a manufacturing plant in North Carolina?
For example, one reason my wife and I have an EV car and an ICE pickup is to give us some security in case the Dims mess up one energy supply -- my transportation needs can shift to the car of which I have good energy available. If the Dims make the power grid unstable here in Alabama like I hear it is in 3rd world California, fine, we'll drive the ICE pickup. If the Dims take us back to 2 years ago when we had gas shortages and gas was $5/gallon even here in Alabama, fine we have an EV.
If I lived under communist rule I'd probably all the more so want a gas vehicle and power vehicle to give me some flexibility. So I could see a Vietnamese family having both an EV bike and an ICE bike.
Hi, Tell It Right. Yes, it’s very common for families to have 2 motorcycles. The landlord of our apartment was in her 50’s and got around town with it. Meanwhile her son was going to a Hanoi university and needed a motorcycle to get there.
Public transportation is at a bare minimum. Also there’s a lot of guys who will earn their living giving backseat rides on their motorcycles to people. Helmets not strictly required.
Even pets ride on the cycles and I saw a young boy riding in front of his Dad as the kid is eating a chicken wing. No helmet, very dangerous. The big cities are not friendly to pedestrians either. The sidewalks are not protected by curb stones, and damaged sidewalks, missing plates, and construction hazards are everywhere.
It was well worth living there for a couple months for the education. It makes you appreciate modern industrial societies.
Yes a few boulevards in Hanoi are splendid with wide lanes and traffic lights that are respected. Along those boulevards are the office buildings of embassies, big business who are invested in Vietnam. But the rest of the city streets are tight and often jammed with cycles.
Elon Musk can help countries like Vietnam greatly with his low-earth satellites. A lot of the messy, scattered labyrinth of communications infrastructure can be avoided by putting an antenna on the roof.
But satellite comms are an exception. The biggest infrastructure issues are at the ground level and those problems are massive.
Do they still take dumps along the side of the road? My brother wrote in one of his letters in 1966, how the people would just drop their drawers and go to the bathroom on the side of the road. Surely they’ve figured out what a toilet, and toilet paper are in the 21st Century.
There are no easy answers for Vietnam. And we now face our own challenges in America — trying to keep the culture of freedom, family responsibility to raise kids right, reinforcing a culture of hard work and effort to attain the benefits of a good life.
America First.
I thought Communist countries were exempt from the war against “fossil fuels?” ‘Cause, you know, they have magical powers that keeps there air clean.
‘Is Vinfast the Vietmaneese company building a manufacturing plant in North Carolina?’
—
Yes.
That is VinFast. Huge, successful company here.
The first public subway, is opening in Saigon in just months.
It is about 11 miles long, it will be joined with many others, but construction is SLOW by what we are used to.
They are learning though.
Vietnamese have LOTS of motorcycles.
Tens of millions. They are EVERYWHERE. All those people may be interested in an economical alternate, that does not crash so easily.
There may be a much larger market for economical electric cars here than you think.
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