Vietnam’s VinFast VF 3 becomes a familiar sight on urban roads

In Hanoi, the VinFast VF 3 is increasingly visible. It is parked outside buildings, threaded through traffic and waiting at charging stations, its owners changing colors, wheels and accessories to suit themselves. The small electric car has become part of the traffic across Vietnam, a change from the period when it first attracted attention through a customization campaign.

VinFast delivered 44,585 VF 3s in Vietnam in 2025, making it the company’s best-selling model for the year. The figure represented roughly a quarter of the 175,099 electric vehicles VinFast delivered in the country. The pace continued in 2026: 5,564 units in July, taking the model’s year-to-date total to 29,345.

The VF 3 is built around the realities of crowded urban travel. It measures about 3.2 meters long and 1.7 meters wide, seats four and has a battery rated for up to 210 kilometers under the NEDC testing cycle. Rather than replace a large family car, it offers a small enclosed vehicle for the short journeys that dominate daily life, while taking up relatively little space in cities where motorcycles and scooters remain the main form of transport.

VinFast highlighted the car’s customization potential with a 2025 competition, which offered a 650 million Vietnamese dong prize pool. Owners added graphics, new colors, roof racks, storage and other styling changes. Those changes continued after the competition, making personalization a visible part of the model’s presence on the road.

So what, concretely? For Vietnamese drivers, the VF 3 offers a small enclosed alternative to two-wheel travel without requiring a large vehicle. For VinFast, it suggests that an EV can build recognition through visibility and owner attachment as well as through range, charging or software. The cars are already used by individual owners across multiple Vietnamese cities and provinces; the remaining question is how durable that appeal will be beyond the market where the model has become part of ordinary traffic.