Vietnam's Vinfast has ditched plan to sell cars direct in UK

VinFast Auto, a Vietnamese carmaker, has cancelled its plans to begin sales of its electric cars in the UK.

Automotive Management reported in 2022 that VinFast was headed to the UK, and in late 2023 it gave former Polestar UK and Genesis executive Andrew Pilkington a remit to establish a sales and marketing company here.

It had already begun sales in some European markets using a direct-to-consumer model, aiming to mirror the success Tesla has achieved in owning its own sales channel.

But by the autumn of 2024 the manufacturer's plans had changed and it postponed the UK market entry, Pilkington later revealed.

It has since closed the fledgling VinFast UK and cancelled its plan to compete in the UK market, where EV market leaders such as Tesla, BMW and Volkswagen are facing increasing competition from aggressive Chinese brands such as BYD and Omoda Jaecoo.

Some manufacturers attracted by the UK Government's target setting for the transition to electric cars by 2030 have found that the lack of consumer incentives and high levels of competition means they might deploy their capital elsewhere.

Nevertheless, VinFast began making right-hand drive cars for the Indonesia market, which it entered in 2024.

In Europe VinFast, which sold 97,399 vehicles globally in 2024, is now pivoting to a franchised dealer sales model and has appointed its first dealer partners in France, Germany and Netherlands. AM understands that many of Vinfast's own sales team have faced redundancy.

It sells the VF8 and VF6 models in Europe.

Pilkington's role as European sales director has ended, and in a LinkedIn post he stated that he is looking for managing director, country manager, sales director, regional director, and non executive director roles.