Thanks to social media, customers are granted direct access to producers and providers of services and, more often than not, an easy venue for their frustrations or appreciation.
Whereas carmakers like Tesla are more easily approachable online (just holla @ Elon Musk with your good and bad, and chances are you’ll get a reply), Vietnam’s first carmaker, VinFast, is not exactly welcoming of the criticism. In fact, VinFact has just reported a single customer to the police, for the alleged crime of criticizing the Lux A2.0 sedan in a now-deleted YouTube video.
Tran Van Hoang has a YouTube channel with some 455,000 subscribers, Reuters reports. In his videos, he talks about a lot of stuff and, occasionally, cars. Being from Vietnam, he also talked about the country’s first homegrown car, the Lux A2.0, which was officially introduced at the 2018 Paris Motor Show, delivered nationally in 2020, and set for an international expansion in 2022.
The original video is no longer online, since Hoang pulled it when VinFast reported him to the police. However, the video below is a version of it. There’s the language barrier, but you can still see that Hoang detailed his issues with the new, BMW-based sedan, which ranged from malfunctioning windshield wipers and dash gauges, to issues with braking and misalignments, and perhaps more importantly, his repeated attempts to solve these problems through the warranty.
VinFast tells Reuters that they believe they have “sufficient grounds to prove that it is not just a normal complaint,” but won’t speak more on that. According to the carmaker, including in a statement posted to Facebook, Hoang’s video damaged their reputation and credibility, which is something they won’t stand for. To Reuters, VinFast says a customer from the U.S. should expect the same kind of response, if a complaint posted online was damaging to the brand.
VinFast is eyeing a 2022 expansion to the U.S., followed by Europe and Canada. VinFast is owned by Vingroup, founded by billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong, the country’s richest man. He gets name-dropped at the beginning of the video.
The police in Ho Chi Minh City, where Hoang lives, told the media outlet they have no record of a police complaint in his name.
Elena has been writing for a living since 2006 and, as a journalist, she has put her double major in English and Spanish to good use. She covers automotive and mobility topics like cars and bicycles, and she always knows the shows worth watching on Netflix and friends. Full profile
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