The shares of VinFast, the Vietnamese electric vehicle maker that went public last week, rallied again Tuesday.

Stock prices of the startup automaker soared 109% in New York, closing at $36.7 as small investors flocked to the stock. VinFast’s strong market performance may make it easier for it to raise more money from investors, a move CEO Thuy Le hinted the company was considering.

When VinFast began trading on Nasdaq last week, a similar story played out. As a result of its stock surge, it now has a value greater than many much larger automakers, at least on paper. In spite of the fact that it produces a relatively small number of cars, the company is now valued at over $85 billion, far above other industry giants such as Volkswagen or Ford.

A razor-thin volume of shares is traded publicly in VinFast (VFS), so price movements can be extremely volatile. The remaining 99% is controlled by the company’s founder, Pham Nhat Vuong, who is also the richest man in Vietnam.

However, that may change in the near future.

VinFast sold 24,000 cars in 2022, a small fraction of the 8.3 million and 4.2 million vehicles sold by Volkswagen Group and Ford, respectively.

It posted a loss of $1.4 billion for the nine months through last September, and is still in the early stages of scaling a multinational company.

There seems to be no deterrent to stock traders despite that modest track record. Stocktwits, an investor social network, listed VinFast as one of the top trending companies and “most watched” stocks on Tuesday.

Global ambitions drive VinFast. The company broke ground on a new factory in North Carolina in July, which will serve as its US sales base. With a wave of recent poor reviews about its electric SUV, the VF 8, the company has suffered a chilly reception there.

She described the US market as a very difficult and challenging one. It goes without saying that if we can make it there, we can pretty much build our brand and make it anywhere.”