TIẾNG VIỆT VinFast buys a car testing center in Australia for an undisclosed amount
The Lang Lang car testing center in Australia. Photo: Vinfast
The unit of Vietnam’s largest private conglomerate, which has opened a research and development center in Melbourne early this year, bought the 872-hectare car testing center in the country’s Victoria.
The deal is among the important steps for the firm to accelerate its car manufacturing plan expand to the international markets, it said in a statement.
The center has a testing track of more than 44 km long, simulating all kinds of terrain in practice. In particular, the it has 4.7 kilometers of newly upgraded circular test tracks, and 18 km of surrounding fence to ensure secrecy for tests.
As a testing center of Holden cars since 1958, Lang Lang has become one of the icons of the Australian automobile industry. In 2018, Lang Lang was comprehensively upgraded and rated as one of the best vehicle testing centers in the world.
GM Holden has announced the closure and withdrawal from the Australian market and Lang Lang was transferred to VinFast for testing impressive cars in the future.
VinFast tested its first electric car model in Ha Noi while announcing plans to introduce it at a U.S. auto show later this year.
The company said late last month it would start mass production of its first electric models from July next year, targeting the U.S. market.
The automaker has a plant with a production capacity of 250,000 cars and 250,000 electric bikes a year in the northern port city of Hai Phong, VnExpress reported.
It started delivering its first cars in June last year. The company does not release sales figures, but official data shows that 5,124 VinFast cars were registered in the first quarter.
This puts it in the fifth place in sales, behind Hyundai, Toyota, Kia and Honda.
► VinFast reports H1 after-tax loss at nearly VND6.6 trillion
