Yet, the Vietnamese car brand, VinFast, has astonishingly risen to become the world's third most valuable car brand.
Perhaps it's something in the name, "VinFast," which suggests speed. And speed is precisely what the brand's stock value has been experiencing in the stock market. Eager investors are now willing to shell out a whopping $89, equivalent to 615 kr., per share of this car brand.
When you tally up the total number of shares, the brand's valuation reaches an astounding $200 billion. This means that VinFast, which has only been around for a mere six years, now boasts a higher valuation than automotive giants like General Motors, Ford, Volkswagen, and even Mercedes-Benz. This intriguing piece of information comes courtesy of the financial news outlet, Bloomberg.
It's worth noting that when VinFast's shares were initially traded on the American stock exchange earlier this month, they were priced at $22 each. However, that price has seen a significant surge since then. By Monday of this week, the value peaked at $89. Only Toyota and Tesla hold a higher valuation than VinFast at this point. Interestingly, VinFast's founder, Pham Nhat Vuong, still retains a staggering 99.7% of the brand's shares.
However, not everyone is convinced about VinFast's meteoric rise. Several individuals within the automotive industry and market analysts are expressing doubts. They question whether this soaring valuation is anything more than a speculative bubble. Their skepticism is partly fueled by the fact that VinFast has only managed to sell a modest 137 cars in the USA this year. Some of these vehicles have been described by the press as "utterly embarrassing," suggesting that they should never have been released to the market in the first place.
According to Investor Place, several analysts are even advising VinFast's investors to sever their ties with the brand as soon as possible. Some experts are going as far as labeling VinFast as a "bubble" in the market, predicting that it's bound to burst sooner or later. They believe that the brand is on a trajectory that will inevitably lead to its downfall. Or, as one might put it more aptly, it's "headed for a crash."
