Vietnam Takes on Tourism and Roadways

By Lark Gould

Vietnam remains one of the more aspirational, if not authentic, places to visit for those looking for history, a deep sense of culture, exotic and tasty foods, and riveting scenery from beaches to jungles and craggy granite mountaintops. 

One might refer to a pearl to describe Vietnam these days. Softened after centuries of invasions, cushioned by steadfast traditions and identity, and steeped in untainted natural beauty, a pearl comes forth to be treasured and understood. And not surprisingly, a pearl is what Vietnam’s largest hospitality chain chose to cement its brand: Vinpearl. The hotel and resort chain runs 45 facilities, with more than 18,500 rooms and villas, three theme parks, two amusement parks, two animal safari parks, and four golf courses in 17 cities and provinces nationwide. So chances are, if you are heading to Vietnam, you will likely experience Vinpearl hospitality up close. 

Vinpearl Hotels and Resorts

We had the opportunity to stay at Vinpearl resorts in Ha Long and Nha Trang. Both are exquisite tourism destinations with beaches and sea views and plenty of luxury features not to be missed. Branded properties, all new-builds, offer up to 1000 rooms and suites. Many come with an amenity-filled spa with well-trained staff, multiple restaurants as well as copious buffets for all meals offering fresh pho stations and other Vietnamese-focused outlays as well as salads, fresh fish dishes, dessert stations and choices that bring in French and western influences throughout. 

Guest room balconies at the Ha Long and Nha Trang properites face magnificent pools accented by Romanesque statuary, and have views beyond to the Bays of Ha Long and Nha Trang. Luxury in Vietnam is often affordable to Americans and these properties, averaging a nightly base rate of under $100, were no exception. Similarly, sumptuous spa treatments are temptingly affordable – you might pay as much as $80 for a 90-minute treatment, and likely much less. 

Because the brand is so ubiquitous throughout Vietnam, it is hard to find a need that will not be met and in style with gorgeous surroundings. In Nha Trang, a phalanx of three-bedroom villas, steps from the soft-sand beach and with private pool and patio, are on offer for $500 a night. 

Nha Trang: Disneyland in Vietnam

The Nha Trang location is almost like a Disney park for the Vinpearl brand. It contains a mega-entertainment venue called Vinwonders with game zones, a cable car ride, a Ferris wheel that claims a spot among the world’s tallest, a coaster thrill ride, a steep, fast and lengthy zipline attraction, a submarine attraction, and elaborate laser light stage shows. Golf at Nha Trang is managed with an 18-hole, 6,787-yard, par-71 course surrounded by rolling hills. Plenty of meeting and conference space is also available – from the Imperial Club mansion to the Vinpearl Convention Center and Theater. 

Shopping and sightseeing is best left to safe and free wanderings in the cities of Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) and Hanoi. While the galleries, the dining and the bargains may be plentiful, English is not widely spoken (try French!) and the Vietnamese dong is a whopping 23,087 to the dollar. 

Both the Nha Trang (CXR) and Ha Long (VDO) airports are located about 40 minutes from Vinpearl resorts. The cities, towns and villages nearby are bustling and genuine, catering little to tourist sensibilities but offering an immersion in all that is Vietnamese culture these days. More travel trade information is available on immersive tours of Vietnam through Red Elephant Reps: tom@redelephantreps.com.

Visionary: Vietnam Style

Behind these hospitality visions, however, is a man who is stirring the pot and making things happen in Vietnam. Vingroup CEO Pham Nhat Vuong has been building industries where they have been lacking in a country that is getting its capitalist sea-legs and learning to run. 

Vuong is a name that may be coming to the fore in western circles as well.  In a surprising move, Vingroup recently came out with a mighty plan to challenge Tesla with a car concept that just might be able to unseat Elon Musk. The car is called VinFast, an electric vehicle that is “breaking things” in the automotive world and making things happen where legacy car companies have failed.  

VinFast: What’s Next in EV Innovation

VinFast was formed in 2017 and as early as 2024 it expects to have at least two models and 150,000 cars on American roads, partially thanks to the abundant funds Vuong has at his fingertips and the abundant know-how he has lured from such companies Tesla, BMW, Porsche, Toyota and Nissan. 

And then there is the eco-system that makes it all work like the oiled, robotic machine that it is. 

On offer is the VinFast V8 and V9, sleek SUV-style vehicles that take up around the same dimensions as a modern day Toyota RAV4. Although none have been manufactured yet, nor road tested, crash tested, nor quality or brand tested, it is currently being marketed directly to American buyers on a reservation/deposit basis, using digital marketing and promise of an eventual build-out of branded showrooms around the U.S. Plans are in motion to take orders from rental car companies as well. 

On a recent press briefing of the VinFast’s massive factory near Hai Phong in Vietnam, trams toured sterile factory warehouses where robot arms moved to affix pieces as a dearth of foremen looked on. Eventually, we got to test-drive some of the few prototypes that have plenty of bugs left to vanquish but currently meet design needs with five-seater family seating in leather or synthetic covers, sleek interiors and ergonomics managed by famed Italian design house Pininfarina, and feature a 15.6-inch, landscape-oriented touchscreen in the middle of the dashboard. The automaker is adding a voice-activated virtual assistant (Amazon Alexa as of this writing) that will be able to respond to more than 30 AI features and power driver commands for the infotainment computer. Specs boast a zero-to-60-mph time of 5.8 seconds and an average driving range of 260 to 290 miles between charges.

Price points for the car currently start at $40,700 for an entry level “Eco” model, up to $61,000 for the larger VF 9 with all the trimmings. For comparison, Teslas start at $46,490 and can go as high as $135,690. Competition remains tough in the EV race to dominate with Ford Mustang Mach-E, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV6, Subaru Solterra, Tesla Model Y, Toyota bZ4X, and Volkswagen ID.4 all edging forward. 

But it is not necessarily what is in front of the dash that counts. It is what’s under the hood. That is the lithium battery panel that comes with flexible subscription plans rather than the looming caveat that all electric vehicle owners face: the expensive dead battery at the end of the road. That means those who purchase the car have the option to lease the battery by subscribing to one of two plans. The first plan, called the Flexible plan, charges drivers a monthly fee of $35 and allows them to drive 310 miles. After that, VinFast charges $0.11 for each additional mile.

The second plan, the Fixed plan, offers unlimited miles for a flat rate of $110 — and for those who run the odometer, that may easily be less than what they spend on gas each month … inflation, shortages, international conflicts or otherwise. But that is not all. As you don’t own the battery pack in these options you do not need to replace it when it runs through its lifespan. VinFast will replace it for free when charging capacity dips below 70 percent.

In a recent interview with VinFast Global CEO Michael Lohscheller published in Car and Driver, it was noted that early adopters would be able to enjoy a sort of concierge-style servicing model for their cars where a traveling technician can meet up to perform repairs or maintenance.

“We will hire lots of service people who will come to your house,” said Lohscheller. “If you have a problem obviously we will fix it digitally if it can be done. If not we come to your house and either fix it there or we give you a replacement car, and we fix it in our service shops.”

The company announced a partnership with Volkswagen’s Electrify America to create charging options across the nation infused with smartphone integration. 

Fast Times at VinFast

What is getting so much attention, however, beyond the product and ambitious promises and plans, is the speed. Earlier this year, VinFast announced plans – welcomed by President Biden – to build a $2-4 billion battery and EV manufacturing plant just outside of Raleigh, North Carolina. “It builds on recent announcements from companies like GM, Ford, and Siemens to invest in America again and create jobs,” Biden said and noted a national goal of ensuring half the new car sales in the U.S. be electric by 2030. California has already signed a law requiring all “light duty autonomous vehicles” be at a zero emission level by 2030. 

Construction of the VinFast plant is expected to begin this year and finish by July 2024 creating an initial capacity to roll out 150,000 units per year. 

“With a manufacturing facility right in the U.S. market, VinFast can stabilize prices and shorten product delivery time, making our EVs more accessible to customers,” said Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy, Vingroup vice chair and VinFast Global CEO.

Vingroup, which has enterprises in nearly every industry in Vietnam, showed 2020 revenues that came in at some 2.2 percent of the country’s GDP with the richest man in Vietnam (and #344 on the Forbes billionaires list) at the top. Vuong comes from humble beginnings and got his start in Ukraine in 1993, opening up a Vietnamese restaurant and then expanding into selling dehydrated ramen. The conglomerate now owns businesses in a variety of sectors in Vietnam. These include a whole city outside of Hanoi with multiple high rise condominiums sporting luxury apartments starting at $1 million. A university in progress at this site is ready to offer its students free education and a chance to join the Vingroup’s warp-speed expansion blueprints. 

In Vietnam, Vuong hopes to transform the buzzing street culture into a less noisy one by manufacturing affordable EV scooters through its VinFast factories and creating a model for EV charging in ubiquitous fast charging stations throughout the country.

And nothing about VinFast suggests patience with waiting and seeing how world political events pan out. The EV maker recently filed openly and confidently for an initial public offering in the U.S. A VinFast IPO would be the first such offering on a U.S. exchange from a Vietnamese company, according to Dealogic.

Yet, times as they are with shipping interruptions, shortages of all kinds including computer chips, high prices on what can be procured and a countdown to an international war in progress with Russia, one of Vietnam’s closest allies, many might ask, why now? And how? The seemingly endless funds behind the VinFast venture that will allow it to leapfrog ahead of other carmakers in the EV lane and in record time require a lot of resources, to which bankers on this media trip replied, are backed by the government of Vietnam. Such questions, otherwise went unanswered and all eyes, for now, are on the IPO. 

The U.S. is invested in looking away and giving Vietnam and the new VinFast entrant the opportunity and strong chance it deserves. It’s good politics all around. In a tough decision in recent weeks, Vietnam abstained from a UN General Assembly resolution vote against Russia. Russia is Vietnam’s largest supplier of military arms. Vietnam, however, keeps options open, plays puppet to no one and enjoys a resolutely capitalist economy. 

In 2017, the US Congress passed the Countering America’s Adversaries Through Sanctions Act (CAATSA), which, threatens sanctions against any country buying weapons from Russia. And Vietnam, despite being one of the United States’ closest strategic partners in Southeast Asia, could conceivably be hit by U.S. sanctions over these continuing military dealings with Russia, should the West seek new pressure points to influence Russian withdrawel from the Ukraine. 

For now, Hanoi expects to continue to enjoy the considerable leverage it has maintained as a frontline state in Washington’s strategic maneuverings with Beijing and for VinFast, it is all systems go in the U.S. and the going is good.