Indonesian President visits Vinfast factory, says conditions are ready for car plant

On Saturday, Vietnamese automaker VinFast's plant was visited by Indonesian President Joko Widodo. He promised to set up the requirements so that a global corporation would quickly invest and establish a plant in Indonesia. Before ending his three-day trip to Vietnam, Widodo drove a Vinfast electric vehicle and visited a large plant located in Haiphong, a port city in northern Vietnam.

The Vietnamese electric vehicle manufacturer has announced plans to invest US$1.2 billion in Indonesia and construct a factory capable of producing 50,000 vehicles annually. The founder of VinFast, Green SM, an EV taxi company, also revealed intentions to invest US$900 million in Indonesia.

Earlier, Vinfast had signed an agreement with Indonesian technology company PT Go To Gojek Tokopedia Tabak, which owns Gojek Transportation Services, to help their taxi service transition to electric vehicles.

VinFast intends to enter Indonesia as part of its global expansion strategy to offer electric vehicles in 50 locations globally. In addition to establishing a US$4 billion EV manufacturing in North Carolina, it exports EVs to the US. where this year's production will begin.

VinFast announced earlier this month that it would invest up to $2 billion to construct an electric vehicle manufacturing in India, the third-largest automotive market in the world.

Vinfast is a division of Vingroup, a massive conglomerate that began in the 1990s as an instant noodle manufacturer in Ukraine. It was founded and run by Pham Nhat Vuong, Vietnam's richest man.

The most industrialised countries, known as the G-7, have promised Vietnam and Indonesia billions of dollars in aid. To help them transition away from dirty fossil fuels under the “Just Energy Transition Partnership”.