I watched Vietnam Fall for the VinFast VF 3

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HANOI, Vietnam — I’ve pushed via sufficient of Vietnam to get an excellent sense of what belongs on its roads. Over the previous two years, my journeys have taken me from Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh Metropolis to Da Nang, Hai Phong and Can Tho, and thru Dong Nai, Hung Yen, Khanh Hoa and Bac Ninh. Bikes are in all places, in fact, together with the acquainted mixture of taxis, buses, vehicles and household automobiles.

However on my more moderen journeys, one automobile has develop into more and more tough to disregard: the VinFast VF 3.

It isn’t as a result of the little electrical automobile is especially unique. Fairly the other. The VF 3 has develop into peculiar. I see them parked exterior buildings, shifting via visitors and ready at charging stations. They seem in several colours, with totally different wheels and equipment, and with various levels of proprietor personalization.

That was not fairly the case after I first encountered the automobile two years in the past.

On the time, VinFast had simply launched a marketing campaign encouraging VF 3 homeowners to customise their automobiles. The corporate turned the thought into a contest, inviting homeowners to point out what they might do with the small EV. The ensuing automobiles have been simple to note as a result of they appeared totally different from each other. Some acquired new colours and graphics; others have been fitted with equipment that gave them a extra particular person look.

What has modified since then is that personalization now not appears to be like like an occasion. It has develop into a part of the best way the VF 3 is seen on Vietnamese roads.

That tells us one thing in regards to the automobile’s success {that a} gross sales chart can’t fairly seize.

VinFast delivered 44,585 VF 3s in Vietnam in 2025, making it the corporate’s best-selling mannequin for the yr. The determine represented roughly 1 / 4 of the 175,099 electrical autos VinFast delivered in Vietnam through the yr. The corporate continued to promote the mannequin at a robust tempo in 2026, delivering 5,564 models in July and bringing its year-to-date whole to 29,345.

The numbers are spectacular, however they don’t absolutely clarify why the VF 3 has develop into so recognizable. The automobile is small by any standard measure, measuring about 3.2 meters lengthy and 1.7 meters vast. It seats 4 and has a battery rated for as much as 210 kilometers underneath the NEDC testing cycle. It was designed primarily as an reasonably priced city EV slightly than in its place for a bigger household automobile.

That positioning makes appreciable sense in Vietnam. Bikes and scooters stay the nation’s dominant type of on a regular basis private transportation as a result of they’re cheap, maneuverable and straightforward to park. Shifting from two wheels to 4 normally means accepting a considerably bigger and dearer automobile. The VF 3 provides a special proposition: a small enclosed automobile that occupies comparatively little area and might deal with the brief city journeys that make up a lot of every day journey.

The design helps, too. The VF 3 is upright and intentionally easy, with sufficient visible character to face out with out trying costly or overly refined. It has the proportions of a small metropolis automobile however sufficient room for a household to make use of it for peculiar journeys. That simplicity additionally leaves loads of scope for homeowners to alter its look.

VinFast seems to have acknowledged that potential early. Its 2025 customization competitors provided a 650 million Vietnamese dong prize pool and attracted homeowners who handled the VF 3 as one thing greater than transportation. The modified automobiles ranged from colourful city variations to builds with roof racks, further storage and extra adventurous styling.

What I discover extra fascinating now’s what occurred after the marketing campaign ended. The automobiles I see at present will not be merely factory-standard autos with a special badge. House owners have continued including their very own touches, and since there are such a lot of VF 3s on the highway, these particular person decisions have develop into a part of the visible character of the mannequin.

That could be a helpful distinction. A automobile can promote in giant numbers as a result of it’s cheap and sensible, however that doesn’t essentially imply homeowners develop into connected to it. The VF 3 appears to have crossed that line in Vietnam. Individuals are not merely shopping for a small EV; many are treating it as one thing they will personalize.

The impact turns into extra obvious whenever you see the automobile in several components of the nation. In Hanoi, it suits into dense visitors dominated by two-wheelers. In Ho Chi Minh Metropolis, it disappears and reappears amongst a a lot bigger combination of autos. In Da Nang and Nha Trang, it appears to be like equally at residence within the city and tourism economic system. Additional north, in locations similar to Hai Phong, Hung Yen and Bac Ninh, I’ve seen the identical fundamental sample: the VF 3 is solely a part of the visitors.

That geographical unfold issues. This isn’t a phenomenon restricted to a single metropolis or an fanatic gathering. The automobile has develop into widespread sufficient that its presence is now not outstanding.

There is a crucial enterprise lesson in that for VinFast and for different EV producers. Electrical automobiles are sometimes offered via expertise: battery capability, charging pace, vary, software program and efficiency. These specs matter, however they don’t essentially create affection for a automobile. The VF 3 has an easier proposition. It’s reasonably priced, simple to acknowledge, sensible in crowded cities and sufficiently distinctive to offer homeowners one thing to work with.

VinFast has additionally created a home ecosystem round its EVs, together with charging infrastructure and electrical taxi and ride-hailing operations. Its bigger Inexperienced fashions serve business fleets, whereas the VF 3 is primarily related to particular person possession. That distinction is changing into seen on the highway. The Inexperienced autos appear like working transportation; the VF 3s more and more appear like individuals’s automobiles.

Which may be the extra essential story behind the mannequin’s gross sales.

Vietnam is shifting from a transportation tradition dominated by bikes towards a extra various combine of electrical automobiles, taxis and business autos. The transition doesn’t require each motorcyclist to immediately purchase an electrical SUV. A small, comparatively cheap automobile such because the VF 3 can present an intermediate step for individuals who need 4 wheels with out giving up the practicality that made bikes so dominant within the first place.

I’ve watched that change over a number of journeys to Vietnam. Two years in the past, the personalized VF 3s caught my consideration as a result of VinFast had turned personalization into an occasion. Right this moment, after I see a brightly coloured or accessorized VF 3 shifting via visitors, I don’t assume it’s a part of a promotion. It’s extra doubtless merely anyone’s automobile.

That’s in all probability the clearest measure of how far the VF 3 has come.

It began as a brand new mannequin that attracted consideration as a result of it was small and totally different. In Vietnam at present, it has develop into acquainted sufficient to be a part of the panorama, whereas the person touches added by homeowners have given an in any other case easy electrical automobile a personality of its personal.