Europe’s largest motoring jury Autobest has formed a strategic partnership with VinFast to help the Vietnamese carmaker accelerate its electric vehicle business in the continent.

VinFast, part of Vietnam’s largest conglomerate Vingroup, is bolstering its EV business to enter the global market. In August, Michael Lohscheller, former chief executive officer of German carmaker Opel, started his new job as CEO of VinFast Global with the primary task of turning the firm into an international player in the smart electric car sector.

Established in 2017, VinFast currently produces electric scooters and buses in Vietnam. It is set to launch electric cars in the country in the fourth quarter of this year, and in the United States, Canada, Germany, France, and the Netherlands in 2022.

Given its new strategic partnership with Autobest, VinFast expects more opportunities to join the auto rating organization’s events and activities to promote its presence in Europe.

“We appreciate VinFast’s approach when focusing on developing smart electric vehicles and expect it to move deeper into the European market very soon,” Autobest chairman Dan Vardie says.

The Vietnamese carmaker is likely to add other markets in 2023 to expand its European strategy beyond Germany, France and the Netherlands. Its business-to-business sales vice president Emiel Hendriksen, who used to work for US giant Tesla as head of international clients, EMEA, had earlier said VinFast was also looking at Italy, Scandinavia, Switzerland, and Austria for the second step in its European strategy.

Vingroup chairman Phan Nhat Vuong is committed to using US$2 billion of his own money to support the carmaker to become a global company.