Vietnam is the latest battleground in BYD’s bid to dominate Southeast Asia’s EV market

On a hot July afternoon, Nguyen Thanh Hai waited his turn to test drive BYD models in Vietnam’s Bac Giang province. For Hai, a self-professed car enthusiast, this would be his first electric vehicle, and he was eager to check out the big Chinese EV brand that is taking on homegrown VinFast.

“In fact, two relatives bought VinFast cars about a month ago,” Hai, who is over 70, told Rest of World. “I might buy a BYD … [but] my biggest concern is the lack of charging points.”

BYD launched in Vietnam on July 18 after months of anticipation and speculation over how the world’s top EV maker would fare in a market where VinFast is well entrenched and owns most of the charging points. BYD has nearly half the EV market in Southeast Asia, wooing customers in major markets, such as Thailand and Malaysia, with its attractive pricing and lineup. But Vietnam is a tougher market to crack, Abhik Mukherjee, an auto analyst at Counterpoint Research, told Rest of World .

“BYD faces significant challenges entering the Vietnamese market, primarily due to VinFast’s near-monopoly on the country’s EV charging infrastructure,” he said. “Additionally, the long-standing anti-China sentiment in Vietnam could pose a significant hurdle for BYD, potentially affecting consumer perception and acceptance.”

VinFast, a unit of Vingroup, Vietnam’s largest private conglomerate, set up its first manufacturing facility in the country in 2017. Two years later, it launched its first three models. Since then, it has cornered the lion’s share of Vietnam’s EV market and built a massive network of more than 150,000 charging ports that only VinFast vehicles can access. Ahead of BYD’s launch, VinFast told its customers they could charge their EVs at any of its charging stations for free for a year.

Other EV players, including a handful of Chinese brands, such as Wuling and Haima, that are present in Vietnam, have to make do with a limited third-party charging network. There are about 100 such points available across the country, Vu Ngoc, business development director of a BYD dealership in Bac Giang province, told Rest of World .

“A number of customers like the car very much, but they’re concerned about charging,” he said. Customers can use the fast charging ports at his dealership, as well as at the dozen others that have opened across the country, he said. By the end of the year, BYD plans to have 50 dealerships in total, all equipped with fast charging ports.

Customers can also charge their vehicles at home, Vo Minh Luc, chief operations officer of BYD Vietnam, said at the launch in Ho Chi Minh City. “You only need to charge twice a week,” he said. The company is offering early adopters a free portable charger and free installation.

That is not likely to resolve the issue in crowded Vietnamese cities, Ngo Ky Lam, who manages otosaigon.com , one of the oldest car communities in Vietnam, told Rest of World . “Not many houses can fit a car.”

VinFast also has the edge when it comes to public outlets: it can tap Vingroup’s vast network of malls and apartments to expand its charging infrastructure anytime, Lam said.

The lack of charging points is just one of BYD’s challenges in Vietnam. It must also compete with VinFast on price. The cheapest BYD model in Vietnam is the Dolphin, a hatchback that retails at 659 million dong ($26,130) — about double the price of VinFast’s cheapest model, the VF3, a mini SUV.

In popular automotive and BYD forums on Facebook , BYD’s pricing strategy in Vietnam has not gone down well. Many users pointed out that the three BYD models available in Vietnam — the Dolphin, Seal sedan, and Atto 3 SUV — are more expensive than in Thailand. The Dolphin, for instance, is priced at about 570,000 baht ($16,000) in Thailand, where BYD recently opened a factory. BYD has slashed prices in Thailand so much that it is under investigation for unfair discounting .

In Vietnam, however, BYD’s pricing may not be competitive for a while, as it is currently importing its models from China, and tariffs apply, Nguyen Dang Quang, a car industry expert, told Rest of World . “When they are imported from Thailand, the price may come down by 30%–50%,” he said. Cars shipped within Southeast Asia are exempt from tariffs.

For BYD, which also plans to open a factory in Indonesia, the region’s largest automobile market, Vietnam is a relatively small market. The country had vehicle sales of just over 300,000 last year — less than half that of Thailand or Malaysia. But EV sales in Vietnam surged by more than 400% in the first quarter of this year, outpacing the region, according to Counterpoint Research. Chinese brands are keen for a bigger share: Wuling is currently assembled in Vietnam, with Chery and BYD also planning to set up manufacturing in the country.

Outside Vietnam, BYD is the clear leader: It has nearly half the EV market in Southeast Asia, with VinFast accounting for less than a fifth of sales. Worldwide, VinFast delivered 34,885 EVs in total last year. In comparison, BYD sold over 3 million vehicles last year. The loss-making Vietnamese company has had a tough global expansion plagued by delays and recalls . But on its home turf, VinFast has been “quite successful in relying on the patriotic spirit to promote themselves as a made-in-Vietnam brand,” Lam of otosaigon.com said.

Navigating the anti-China sentiment that runs deep in Vietnam can be tricky. On social media , many users have said they’d only buy a BYD car if its navigation map shows the Spratly and Paracel Islands as belonging to Vietnam, in reference to a long-standing territorial dispute in the South China Sea.

“If you follow online discussions, you’ll see those who haven’t test driven the car discriminating [against BYD],” car expert Vinh Nguyen, who designed test drives for BYD in Vietnam, told Rest of World . “Feedback on the car’s quality has been very good from those who sat in the car and drove it.”

At Ngoc’s dealership in Bac Giang, the test drive drew 118 customers over two days and resulted in eight bookings, he said. Most bookings came from Chinese workers, their Vietnamese spouses, or people who have studied or worked in China, he said.

BYD “will initially face difficulties in terms of established perception. But with such a [good] product, it will definitely gain the trust of Vietnamese consumers,” Ngoc said, naming other Chinese brands that have been embraced in Vietnam, like electronics brands Oppo and Xiaomi. “Word of mouth will surely spread.”

For Hai, the retiree who was test driving his first EV, BYD being a Chinese brand is not an issue. “Back in the day, during the [Vietnam] War, we drove Chinese cars, Chinese trucks for many years,” he said. “They were very good.”

After test driving two of the three BYD models, Hai’s main sticking point — besides the lack of charging points — was the price. “It’s expensive compared to other available models,” he said of the Dolphin. “I’ll wait and see.” ▰

Lam Le is a reporter for Rest of World covering labor and technology in Southeast Asia. She is based in Hanoi, Vietnam.