VinFast has taken an important step in its Canadian expansion. The Vietnamese electric vehicle manufacturer has joined forces with NAPA AUTOPRO shops certified under the NexDrive program to give its customers access to a nationwide network for warranty maintenance and repairs. This first agreement of its kind in the Canadian aftermarket provides owners with the reassurance of specialized and accessible service.

The initiative began in 2023 with a pilot project involving a handful of shops in Quebec and Ontario, recalls Yves Racette, Director of NexDrive program development. “Overall, things went smoothly. Everyone was trained and ready. B. Lepage, located near Quebec City airport, was the busiest. Montreal saw moderate traffic, while Kingston and Oshawa didn’t get the chance to put their training to use. At that stage, VinFast hadn’t communicated the initiative to its customer base. The test allowed us to measure needs and adjust procedures, and the results were strong enough to lead to an official agreement between the two parties, announced by press release in mid-July.”

A nationwide partnership

Today, the partnership has been extended across the country. In Quebec, seven NAPA AUTOPRO NexDrive shops are listed on the manufacturer’s website as authorized repair centres. They are located in Montreal, Quebec City, Saint-Jérôme, Drummondville and Trois-Rivières. Ontario currently has five centres, and British Columbia has three. The number of outlets is determined by sales volumes, and locations are chosen carefully to maximize customer access. In Quebec, this network complements VinFast’s two service centres in Saint-Laurent and Laval.

The closure of half of VinFast’s retailers last June, including showroom spaces in shopping malls, made this approach essential to meet demand for routine maintenance and warranty repairs nationwide. “It really comes down to sales volumes,” says Racette, who coordinated technician training for the banner. “Of course, we want to expand.” Growth, however, must remain measured. “There’s no point certifying 25 shops if there aren’t enough vehicles for them to service,” he points out.

As early as summer 2022, John O’Dowd, Vice-President of Marketing at NAPA Auto Parts Canada, had anticipated the importance of such a project. “The four pilot garages will help us determine how well we can support a manufacturer newly arriving in our market. And we know VinFast won’t be the last to enter Canada in the coming years.”

Specialized EV expertise

NexDrive shops are not just regular garages. They provide specialized training and equipment designed to service VinFast models. “All our authorized members are trained and equipped with the VinFast diagnostic tool,” Racette emphasizes, calling it essential, even for troubleshooting something as simple as a TPMS issue. “They also have access to all the brand’s information, just like a VinFast technician.”

This expertise is built on the EV Skills program developed in Quebec. NexDrive-certified technicians already possess the required knowledge base. To service the VF8 and VF9, they only needed an additional two-day training course covering the specific features of the Vietnamese models. Developed by Racette in collaboration with VinFast, this course incorporated the lessons learned during the pilot phase. Nicolas Piguet, a former colleague of Racette’s at the École des métiers de l’équipement motorisé de Montréal (EMEMM) and “one of the trainers who helped prepare Quebec’s master trainers for EV Skills,” was assigned to the project.

The partnership also represents an important milestone for NAPA. “In the aftermarket, the average age of vehicles we service ranges between six and eight years. We rarely see cars still under warranty, except in special cases. That’s something we intended to test during our pilot phase with VinFast,” O’Dowd explained in a 2022 interview. He hoped the initiative would become a model for “foreign manufacturers looking to establish themselves in Canada without a dealership network to handle maintenance and repairs.”

For VinFast owners, the agreement ensures service that meets the brand’s standards and procedures. This collaboration has the potential to reshape the Canadian aftermarket and support the broader transition to electric mobility.