VinFast returns to Paris show with new confidence but plenty still to prove

NHA TRANG, Vietnam -- VinFast CEO Le Thi Thu Thuy is used to the skepticism that the Vietnamese EV maker has faced since it said in 2017 it would put new cars on the road in two years.

“We were told by the industry that it was impossible because the standard product development process for any car company from design freeze until the cars roll off the production line was five years. It would be a miracle to do it in four years,” Thuy remembered being told.

Several suppliers also had doubts about the company's aggressive timeline.

"You want this in 18 months? No way," Thuy was told. “Testing alone takes 18 months," Thuy recounted being told during a roundtable with journalists who were on Hon Tre island, off the coast of Nha Trang, Vietnam, to test drive the VF8 last month.

VinFast achieved its goal of getting cars on the road by 2019, assisted by license agreements with BMW for things such as the platform and engine. It was also helped by companies such as ZF Friedrichhafen, Magna International and Pininfarinia.

VinFast hoped that its ties to many suppliers in Germany would be beneficial as it looked to take another step in its development by creating its own cars. It used the 2018 Paris show to meet with German supplier executives to see if they would provide parts to the automaker.

“Our goal was to convince them to join us,” Thuy said.

Those meetings didn't go so well.

“There were a lot of German suppliers that we couldn't convince because they didn't believe in us,” she said. “In the end, we had to move a lot to Korean suppliers because they were a lot more flexible -- and maybe they could accept our ambitions better.

That isn't that hard to believe considering that it wasn't long ago that Hyundai and Kia were the precocious new entrants looking to challenge much more experienced rivals.

In addition, the humbling process in 2018 provided Thuy with some invaluable intel. An executive from Robert Bosch who believed in the company had created a detailed collection of materials about VinFast and its parent, Vingroup, the country's largest conglomerate, to try to convince his uber-bosses to take a chance on young brand.

“His premise was that if we can build buildings this fast [Vingroup has a vast real estate empire in Vietnam where it is creating huge communities for the fast-growing nation], maybe they can build cars fast as well,” she said. “One day I got my hands on his materials and I said to the man, ‘What a great idea! Can I borrow it [laughs] to share with other internal champions at other organizations, mostly in Germany'?”

That exemplifies the humility and flexibility of the company. Thuy wasn't insulted. Instead she saw an opportunity to make the company more appealing to the doubters.

Another example of this openness took place before the roundtable with Thuy began.

Despite temperatures in the high 80s Fahrenheit and oppressive humidity, she spent more than 20 minutes in a non-air conditioned VF8 with an entrepreneur who she said sold his infotainment-focus business to a top Tier 1 supplier.

“He was sitting in the car with me, I'm sweating like a pig, showing me how inadequate our infotainment system might be and how to improve it,” she said. “We plan to exchange ideas with him to make our system better. Support like that is invaluable to us.”

Chances are very slim that there is another automotive CEO out there who would have been grateful to have the company's tech torn apart -- all while being stuck in a mobile steam room.

She said that there are still skeptics about the brand's future, but at least VinFast: has several cars on the road; will make its shift to being an electric-only brand by this month -- completing the transition in less than a year; and its massive factory in Hai Phong, near Hanoi, is equipped with the top equipment money can buy.

At this year's Paris auto show, which starts on Monday, VinFast will show four full-electric cars, the VF 6 small crossover, VF 7 compact crossover, the VF 8 midsize SUV and the VF 9 large SUV.

The Pininfarina-designed VF 8 and VF 9 are the brand's first electric SUVs to launch globally. The VF6 and VF7 were co-created by VinFast and Torino Design.

Time will tell whether the VinFast story is a triumph of human ambition and tenacity or a money-losing tragedy of epic proportions.

But one VinFast executive summed how the company has gotten this far, this fast in two words: "Why not?" That is the question everyone at the company asks when faced with an seemingly impossible task.