India is being eyed by electric carmakers as a potential and emerging market. After Tesla, VinFast, a noted Vietnamese electric carmaker is now planning to expand into the Indian market. As per the news, the company is now checking out the car plant of Ford India in Chennai. It may import completely built units in the early days and later local manufacturing may start.
While VinFast is exploring the Chennai factory of Ford India, it is also exploring other options for manufacturing EVs in India. The Ford India plant located in Chennai’s Chengalpattu is ideal to produce up to 210,000 units. Earlier this year, the Sanand plant of the US carmaker was bought by Tata Motors for Rs 725 crore. The Chengalpattu factory may fetch a lower price.
VinFast does have big plans for India. In the future, it may use India as a base for exporting cars. The carmaker is very popular in its home turf and has also made a foray into the markets like the USA and Europe. It has a handful of EV models in its portfolio. The VinFast VF 8 model which is an electric SUV is pretty popular.
In its Q3 CY2023 results meet, the company focused on expanding to key markets like Indonesia and India. It remains to be seen if it will buy the Chennai plant of Ford. For the latter, selling off the plant will lead to a complete vehicle manufacturing exit from India.
