VinFast closes Aussie R&D centre

The Vietnamese automotive start-up VinFast has blamed the COVID-19 pandemic for “temporarily” shutting its Australian engineering centre in Port Melbourne, potentially at the cost of hundreds of current and future jobs.

The company has confirmed in an official statement that the functions of the Australian centre, which only opened in December 2019, will be transferred back to Vietnam and local employees offered the chance to transfer there.

The statement also suggests other overseas development programs will be affected. Currently, VinFast also has a tech centre in California.

The resignation of Kevin Yardley, the Australian ex-Holden and GM veteran who set up the local office and was then promoted to deputy CEO of product development at VinFast in Vietnam, has also been confirmed.

However, VinFast has stated the Lang proving ground, which it purchased from Holden only last September, will continue to function.

Employees of the engineering centre were handed letters by management yesterday (May 8) informing them of the closure. Most of them were ex-Holden engineers for whom VinFast represented a lifeline after Holden’s manufacturing closure in 2017.

VinFast had relied heavily on the Australian office to develop a new generation of electric cars it has started rolling out ahead of planned launches in the US and Europe.

It had yet to confirm Australian launch plans.

“Currently, VinFast is highly focusing on vehicle development projects that are participated by its foreign research facilities. However, the COVID-19 pandemic has significantly hindered connections and movements across countries,” VinFast’s statement reads.

“Therefore, VinFast has decided to gather all vehicle development workforces in foreign countries back to the headquarters in Vietnam in order to optimise all resources and facilitate co-ordination with the production team in our complex in Hai Phong, Vietnam.

“For this reason, we have temporarily closed Australian office and moved all staffs to Vietnam.

“It is true that Kevin Yardley has resigned. In terms of transferring workers in our Australian office to Vietnam, we will settle all issues according to the laws if anyone cannot manage to move to Vietnam.

“VinFast’s decision to close the R&D office in Australia does not affect the Lang Proving Ground. We will release official announcement if there is any change.

“VinFast’s go-global aim never changes. The mobilisation of VinFast’s resources is a step to effectively realise this goal.”

VinFast was established in 2017 by Vietnam’s richest man, Pham Nhat Vuong, who is head of the VinGroup.

VinFast’s first models were based on the BMW 5 Series and X5 and the Opel Karl, but the car-maker had more recently revealed its all-new EVs, including the production VF e34.

It had also previewed plans to develop a wide variety of vehicles including a ute.