Tesla Inc (NASDAQ:TSLA) competitor VinFast, the Vietnamese electric carmarker, has filed for an initial public (IPO) offering in the US, where it hopes to have a factory up and running by the middle of 2024.
On December 7 this year, the company filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission - the first formal step toward a public offering next year.
Its shares will be listed on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker 'VFS'.
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VinFast is a unit of conglomerate Vingroup JSC, founded only five years ago by Vietnam's richest man Pham Nhat Vuong and has already shown accelerating growth.
Despite only launching its first vehicle in Vietnam in 2018, the firm has already earmarked five vehicles for sale in the US and will deliver the first - a mid-size SUV, this month. It also has plans to construct a $2 billion plant in North Carolina.
VinFast is entirely focused on electric vehicles and it is currently taking reservations for two electric SUVs, the midsize VF8 and larger VF9.
Without batteries, the VF8 and VF9 start at just over $42,000 and $57,500, while battery subscriptions are priced at $169 per month for the VF8 and $219 per month for the larger VF9.
As of the end of September, VinFast reportedly had about 58,000 worldwide reservations for the two models.
VinFast itself isn’t yet profitable: It lost about $1.3 billion in 2021, and an additional $1.4 billion through the first three quarters of 2022.
Contact the writer at giles@proactiveinvestors.com