TURIN — Vietnamese carmaker VinFast may add different markets in 2023 to develop its European technique past a deliberate debut in Germany, France and the Netherlands subsequent 12 months.

The corporate, which has employed former Opel CEO Michael Lohscheller as its CEO, will debut in Europe subsequent 12 months with two battery-electric SUVs fashions — the midsized VF e35 and the seven-seat VF e36, each designed by Italy’s Pininfarina.

The 2 fashions will launch in Vietnam, North America and Europe round mid-2022, after an unveiling deliberate later this 12 months.

VinFast is a unit of Vingroup JSC Vietnam’s largest conglomerate and a few have known as it “Vietnam’s reply to Tesla.”

VinFast turned Vietnam’s first absolutely fledged home automotive producer when its first gasoline-powered fashions constructed beneath its personal badge hit the streets in 2019.

VinFast’s B2B Gross sales Vice President Emiel Hendriksen mentioned on Thursday that the automaker is taking a look at Italy, Scandinavia, Switzerland and Austria for a second step in its European technique.

“We’re contemplating these international locations for 2023,” he mentioned throughout a presentation at Pininfarina headquarters in Turin.

VinFast will initially depend on a direct distribution mannequin in Germany, France and the Netherlands, primarily based on showrooms, however may later think about an agency-model for gross sales in different international locations, Hendriksen mentioned.

The corporate offered about 30,000 automobiles domestically final 12 months and had set a goal of promoting 15,000 electrical automobiles in 2022, though its representatives didn’t present detailed forecasts for the European market on Thursday.

Earlier this 12 months sources mentioned dad or mum Vingroup JSC was contemplating an U.S. preliminary public providing (IPO) of its automotive unit that might worth VinFast at about $60 billion, although an preliminary second-quarter deadline for the deal talked about by one of many sources was delayed.

VinFast Europe CEO Bich Tran mentioned any IPO choice was as much as the corporate’s headquarters in Vietnam.

“Our European plans are unbiased from any IPO. We’re carrying on with our plans, all the pieces in Europe is shifting as deliberate,” she mentioned.