In the grand arc of automotive history, the electric car has always been something of a phoenix, born, forgotten, and reborn with each passing century. Its story began not in Silicon Valley, but in the workshops of 19th-century Europe, where visionaries first sought to harness invisible energy for motion.
The foundation was laid in 1859 by French physicist Gaston Planté, who created the first rechargeable battery. Two decades later, another French inventor, Gustave Trouvé, adapted a compact electric motor, attaching it to a British-designed carriage to create what is recognized as the world’s first working electric vehicle.
By 1884, in Wolverhampton, England, Thomas Parker unveiled the first practical electric automobile, long preceding the widespread combustion engine. Across the Atlantic, the technology thrived. By 1900, electric vehicles accounted for nearly 40 percent of cars on U.S. roads. They were the choice of city dwellers and the elite, favored for their clean, quiet operation over the noise and smoke of early gasoline rivals.
Then, just as quickly as it rose, the electric dream dimmed. For over a century, the electric car became a historical footnote, a promising concept perpetually postponed.
Now, the phoenix rises again.
A New Dawn in the East
In 2018, as global automakers hesitated at the edge of electrification, Mr. Pham Nhat Vuong, founder and chairman of Vietnam’s Vingroup, saw not just opportunity, but inevitability. When the game is redrawn, he famously said, everyone starts from the same line.
It was an audacious vision: To create a global electric vehicle brand from a country that had never built cars before. Yet within three years, VinFast not only delivered Vietnam’s first electric car but also set in motion a transformation that would reverberate far beyond its borders.
The moment of quiet triumph arrived at 10 a.m. on December 25, 2021, when VinFast handed over the first batch of VF e34 models to customers at its high-tech factory in Hai Phong. Vietnam had formally entered a club long dominated by industrial giants. Just a year later, in November 2022, VinFast VF 8 SUVs rolled onto ships bound for California, an announcement that Vietnam had joined the global electric revolution.
The Courage to Compete
For a young automaker from Southeast Asia, entering the demanding U.S. market was an act of profound courage. Yet VinFast’s journey has been defined by its willingness to act decisively, move quickly, and learn relentlessly.
From the outset, the company championed its “customer-centric revolution”. This initially meant pursuing a direct-to-consumer model, but the company soon pivoted to a dealership partnership network, recognizing the value of local expertise, established trust, and operational scalability. That willingness to evolve, to combine boldness with clear-eyed pragmatism, has become a defining corporate trait.
On the product front, the company’s lineup is continually refined. The VF 8 SUV offers two trims: The Eco, powered by a 260 kW motor (500 Nm of torque), and the Plus, delivering 300 kW (620 Nm) for higher performance. Both integrate advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS), including highway driving support and intelligent parking, continuously improved through over-the-air updates.
In the U.S., lease pricing begins at $269 per month for the VF 8 Eco and $319 for the VF 8 Plus, a bold pricing strategy aimed at challenging an industry often criticized for making electric cars inaccessible to most families.
The larger VF 9, styled by the Italian house Pininfarina, is the company’s three-row flagship, offering up to 330 miles of EPA-estimated range, 11 airbags, and one of the segment’s most comprehensive warranty programs. With lease prices starting at $499 per month, the VF 9 is positioned not just as a premium electric vehicle, but as a statement of Vietnamese manufacturing capability.
VinFast and the Irreversible Electric Future
VinFast’s greatest advantage lies in its unwavering belief in an electric future, and its relentless determination to make that vision real.
The evidence is everywhere. According to a recent J.D. Power study, 94 percent of battery-electric vehicle owners say their next car will also be electric, an unprecedented level of loyalty in an industry known for fickle tastes. Once drivers experience the quiet surge of instant torque, the effortless acceleration, the absence of tailpipe emissions, few ever turn back.
BloombergNEF’s Electric Vehicle Outlook 2025 adds numbers to the story: Global EV sales are on track to represent one in every four cars sold this year. Electrification is spreading fast beyond passenger cars, buses, delivery fleets, even two- and three-wheelers. The same report predicts that by 2030, annual passenger EV sales will reach 39 million units, up from 17.6 million in 2024. Oil demand for road transport will peak by 2029, and electricity demand from EVs will grow 2.4-fold within just five years.
VinFast’s advantage, and its audacity, lies in its clarity of purpose. Its vehicles are conceived from the ground up as electric, the architecture, the design language, the experience, all synchronized toward a single vision of a cleaner, smarter way to move.
That vision is not theoretical. In just a few years, VinFast has built what few other young automakers can claim: A comprehensive green mobility ecosystem.
It begins with products, a full lineup of all-electric vehicles covering nearly every segment, from minicars and minivans to SUVs and MPVs, alongside e-scooters, e-buses, and e-bikes.
Supporting them is infrastructure, more than 150,000 charging ports across Vietnam, one of the densest charging networks in the world. Then there are green-energy solutions, driven by in-house R&D and manufacturing of high-quality lithium-ion batteries and energy-storage systems. And finally, an extensive customer-care network. Each piece of this ecosystem fits into a larger idea: That the electric revolution is about rewriting how people experience mobility.
In its home market, VinFast’s EV portfolio has expanded with astonishing speed. The lineup now includes models like VF 3, VF 5, VF 6, VF e34, VF 7, VF 8, and VF 9, covering every consumer tier from city commuters to luxury SUV buyers. For commercial transport, VinFast has rolled out the Minio Green, Herio Green, Nerio Green, Limo Green, and the EC Van, serving logistics and ride-sharing fleets. Electric buses now glide through Vietnam’s streets, replacing diesel fumes with quiet efficiency.
At CES 2024, VinFast revealed its first pickup concept, the VF Wild, a sleek, powerful vehicle that reimagines what an electric truck could be. Then, in September 2025, came another bold chapter: The debut of Lạc Hồng, VinFast’s premium marque. Its first model, the Lạc Hồng 900 LX, is crafted for leaders and dignitaries, a symbol of Vietnamese craftsmanship and ambition, complete with an armored variant for heads of state.
Just two years earlier, on August 14, 2023, VinFast had rung the opening bell on the Nasdaq Global Select Market, officially entering the ranks of global public companies. From that moment, the brand’s presence spread rapidly beyond Vietnam, to the United States, Canada, and Europe, and further into emerging markets such as India, Indonesia, the Philippines, Laos, and the Middle East.
The Rebirth That Lasts
This time, the rebirth of EV is different. It’s not driven by novelty or regulation alone, but by convergence: Better batteries, faster chargers, lower costs, and a generation of consumers who value sustainability as much as performance. The technology is mature, the economics compelling, and the urgency of climate change undeniable. This time, the silence of an electric motor is not the pause before retreat, it’s the sound of permanence.
And companies like VinFast are the reason why. Their commitment is total. Their business models are born from electrification, not adapted to it. In this sense, VinFast embodies a philosophy, that green mobility should be a right, not a privilege, and that progress should serve people as much as the planet.
What’s striking about VinFast’s rise is not just speed, but origin. In a world long dominated by Western and Japanese giants, here comes a newcomer from Southeast Asia, declaring that innovation can come from anywhere.
Every VinFast vehicle that ships abroad carries a message from Vietnam, that a country with vision, discipline, and purpose can electrify the world, literally.
From the quiet factories of Hai Phong to the freeways of California, VinFast carries a singular message: That the electric dream, once forgotten, is alive again, and this time, it is here to stay./.
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