We were wowed by Vinfast at the recent Gaikindo Indonesia International Auto Show (GIIAS) 2026. But it wasn’t because of the Vietnamese carmaker’s range of EVs – wide as it was – but its business model in Indonesia. With its home market in the pocket, it looks like Vinfast is making our ASEAN neighbour its next mission.
And what a mission it is. Indonesia is the fourth most populous country in the world and crucially, there’s still a lot of growth potential for autos – Malaysia doesn’t even have 20% of Indonesia’s population, but our total industry volume is higher. That’s crazy if you think about it!
But with the opportunity comes the challenges. Vinfast is a new brand in a very crowded market (recent influx of Chinese brands), and it’s an EV-only brand (that’s not even from China), so there are two mountains to climb, so to speak. To win trust, Vinfast Indonesia is going to great lengths to leave no stone of doubt unturned, and they seem to have an answer for every worry.
The main concern for those transitioning from petrol to electric is charging, and it’s free for Vinfast customers. Not for a month, not for a year, but free till March 31, 2029. Three years of free charging is a lot of money saved, especially in an era of volatile oil prices due to instability in the Middle East.
So, the charging may be free, but waiting for your turn could be painful in a megalopolis like Jakarta. To reduce the chances of queuing, Vinfast is offering free charging at over 3,200 charging stations that are exclusive to the brand. Yes, these chargers are reserved for Vinfast drivers, like Tesla chargers in Malaysia.
Instead of relying on third-party CPOs, Vinfast decided to take matters into its own hands and build the chargers themselves. The charging network is growing and isn’t just limited to Jabodetabek – the map shows places as far as Medan in Sumatra to Labuan Bajo in the east of the archipelago. Speaking of networks, Vinfast currently has over 40 showrooms across the republic, with 150 more planned.
The second biggest problem (or the main one for some) is the poor resale value of EVs. A component of this issue is the EV battery, which state of health (SoH) might not be as good as new a few years down the road – since replacing the battery is a costly affair, this risk is priced into the RV of EVs.
That’s why OEMs typically offer one-to-one replacement for EV batteries in Malaysia should SoH fall below a certain figure (usually 70%), in addition to a long warranty (eight years is the norm). Recently, Perodua went one step further and rocked the market with a novel battery leasing scheme for the QV-E, arguing that by owning the battery, it is taking away risk from the EV owner.
Over in Indonesia, Vinfast also employs battery leasing (current promo is two years free subscription), plus one-to-one replacement (70% SoH) and a lifetime warranty for its EV batteries. And if this isn’t enough to convince buyers, they have an 80% RV guarantee in place. As with all things in life, there’s fine print to read, but the latter is a bold move – it really is putting money where one’s mouth is.
Charging? Free and exclusive. Warranty? Lifetime. Depreciation? There’s an 80% RV guarantee to shake hands on. Hapus semua kekhawatiranmu, beli EV tanpa was-was, the VF banner reads. Indeed!
Now, you might have heard Perodua sharing the same points for the QV-E, and while the folks in Rawang thought of the same pain points, Vinfast is executing it to the point that leaves little room for was-was about EVs. P2 talks about Battery-as-a-Service (BaaS) supporting resale values, but there’s no firm agreed buyback figure for QV-E buyers, at least not that we know of.
Product wise, Vinfast sells an impressively wide range of EVs in Indonesia, ranging from the cute ‘baby Jimny’ VF3 to the VF7 SUV. To be a serious player in Indonesia, one needs an MPV, and the VF MPV 7 plays the people carrier role. A lower spec version of the VF MPV 7 called Limo Green is targeted at fleets and ride-hailing. They even have e-bikes.
To be competitive, Vinfast opened its own factory in Subang, West Java (many Chinese OEMs use contract assemblers in Indonesia) in December 2025, and the plant rolls out right-hand-drive versions of the VF3, VF5, VF6, VF7 and the VF MPV 7/Limo Green. All this from a brand that set up shop in Indonesia just slightly more than two years ago. In fact, Vinfast itself is less than 10 years old, having been established in September 2017. Impressive.
GALLERY: Vinfast at GIIAS 2026
vietname can be proud of their success because they dont have crony discriminatory policy introduced by kerala keli**
This one confirm MITI block because if they can do it, why Proton and Perodua tak boleh? So terus block.
The Vietnamese are going all in and throwing everything to gain market share in Indonesia. Vinfast can offer lifetime warranty for the battery, why can’t Proton-Geely and Perodua-Daihatsu? What about the rest like BYD, Leapmotor (which offer lifetime warranty in China), Ora, Wuling, Dong Feng? The BEV market is expanding rapidly. Soon P1 and P2 cannot export any cars there because ICE has become extinct.
At this rate Indonesia is going to become the Shenzen of SEA. All this due to the fantastic policies of Mee Tee and Joo Har Ree, the father of Indonesian BEV industry. Indonesia should give Joo Har Ree the Indonesian equivalent of Datukship. We must all vote Team Dark Blue and Joo Har Ree now!
very impressive. sometimes I really worry about the direction our country is taking. we are more interested in racial issues instead of innovating. Look at Thailand, in the 80’s & 90’s our economy & currency were far ahead. at one point the thai currency was ahead but fortunately now it seems like we are slightly ahead. But this doesn’t make a difference to Malaysians….
Vinfast is a sinking ship. Let’s see who fell for their lofty promises.
BETTER THAN USELESS REBADGE OVERPRICED POTONG. POTONG GAY FANBASE WILL DOWNVOTE THE TRUTH
Thanks to our EV Policies, Malaysia will be BAPAK PELOPOR EV DI Indonesia….hahahaha….just like Atuk, the father of automotive in Thailand….Syabas Malaysia….hahahahaha
Rode one of these vinfast vf23 as ride hailing and the car was making a lot of noises from the suspension to the electric motor and that thing at most is only 1 year old and maybe 50,000km max meanwhile BYD Atto 1 doesn’t make any noise except tyre noise and not so comfortable rear passenger cushioning lol