VinFast has no plans to participate in the Philippines’ Electric Vehicle Incentive Strategy (EVIS), an incentive-driven program aimed at attracting investments in EV manufacturing, as local production no longer adds value for the Vietnamese EV manufacturer.
Spearheaded by the Board of Investments, the EVIS is in the final stages of approval by the Fiscal Incentives Review Board (FIRB), with guidelines expected to be completed in the second quarter of this year.
Antonio “Toti” Zara III, CEO of VinFast Southeast Asia and VinFast Philippines, told reporters during the company’s “From Fuel to Future: The Philippines’ EV Turning Point” symposium, that since Vietnam is part of ASEAN, the Vietnamese company is entitled to zero import duty of EVs under the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement. In addition, Executive Order No. 12 exempts fully electric vehicles from excise tax, as provided under the Electric Vehicle Industry Development Act (EVIDA), or RA 11697.
Furthermore, Zara explained that VinFast has a large production plant in Indonesia with a capacity of 100,000 units, which is set to begin operations this month.
While VinFast is not investing in car manufacturing in the Philippines, Zara explained that they are investing in the country’s charging infrastructure ecosystem. V-Green, VinFast’s charging station development arm, offers free charging until March 31, 2029, and is aiming to establish 5,000 chargers nationwide.
Meanwhile, Green GSM, the entity operating an all-electric taxi fleet and ride-hailing services using VinFast vehicles in the Philippines, is also investing in the deployment of 10,000 GSM cars.
The company is already scouting for locations across the Philippines for the installation of charging stations, offering a lease payment of PHP4,000 per month over a five-year period.
“The investments of Green Group are so much greater than one plant capacity. How many jobs does one plant generate? How many jobs do we generate with all the fleet of GSM that we’re moving in? We are contributing even more in different ways,” he said.
