Disguised Electric Bike Shops Selling Unregistered Vehicles

In Ân Thi (Hung Yen), the Vu Luong electric bike shop is heavily promoted on social media, boasting about bulk orders and rock-bottom prices. In reality, the shop is just the owner’s front yard, split into a display area and a makeshift workshop where bikes are manually assembled without any technical standards or inspections. The owner admitted openly: none of the bikes assembled here can pass registration checks.

Most of the products sold are so-called “turtle bikes” (xe rùa) — electric bicycles without pedals — priced from 3.7 to 4.2 million VND, not including batteries. Buyers wanting legal papers must pay an additional 1–2 million VND, but few bother since the cost outweighs the value. All parts are imported mainly from China, assembled by hand, and their quality is highly questionable. Even the shopkeeper acknowledged that in big cities like Hanoi, the risk of inspection is high, while in smaller towns the business can operate if “arrangements” are made with local authorities.

The same model exists in Bac Ninh, where the Nam Lan Osakar system runs its operations discreetly. Orders are placed by phone, and bikes are only assembled once a customer agrees to purchase — a tactic to avoid seizures. Prices range between 4 and 5.5 million VND per unit, all unregistered. The shop owner admitted he dares not keep stock since all products are illegal, instead assembling only upon request. Their distribution network stretches beyond Bac Ninh to provinces such as Thanh Hoa and Nghe An.

Insiders reveal that whenever a new bike model becomes a market “trend,” small operators rush to import parts, assemble copies, and even stamp frame numbers to imitate registered products. Fueled by lucrative profits, this underground system continues to thrive, ignoring legal obligations and putting both buyers and the public at risk.

👉 In short, under the guise of branded dealerships, many workshops are flooding the market with unregistered and illegally assembled electric vehicles. While cheap and easy to obtain, these bikes form a dangerous, uncontrolled market with significant safety and legal hazards.