Vietnamese Automaker VinFast Echoes Tesla's Demand For EV Import Duty Cut, As Plant Construction Starts

Vietnam's leading electric vehicle manufacturer, VinFast on Sunday (25 February) asked the government to reduce import duties on its cars for about two years, so that potential customers get familiar with its products while a local manufacturing plant comes on-stream.

On 25 February, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M K Stalin had laid the foundation stone for its first integrated electric vehicle (EV) manufacturing plant in Thoothukudi district.

Spanning 400 acres within the State Industries Promotion Corporation of Tamil Nadu industrial estate at Sillaanaththam on the outskirts of Thoothukudi, the EV facility boasts a total initial investment of $500 million over five years, with a projected capacity of 150,000 vehicles annually.

The request by VinFast is similar to one made by US-based electric car maker Tesla asking for a reduction to India's 100 per cent import duty on on fully-built EVs.

"We ... proposed a reduction of import duty tax ... for instance, by bringing it to 70 per cent to 80 per cent just for two years and for a very limited a number of cars in order for the customers to get used to our products," VinFast India CEO Pham Sanh Chau said, at the sidelines of groundbreaking ceremony.

”The central government is still considering it. But while waiting for the final decision of the central government, we move ahead with our construction of the manufacturing facility," he added.

The plant in Tamil Nadu is a significant milestone in VinFast's global expansion strategy of venturing into one of the world's fastest-growing major economies and its burgeoning EV market.

The company hopes to start production by the middle of next year, for domestic sales first and then exports, Pham Sanh Chau told Reuters.