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STORY: Shares of Vietnamese electric-vehicle maker Vinfast soared more than 20% on Monday, extending a rally from last week that more than quadrupled the company’s market value.

While unknown to many U.S. consumers, Vinfast has quickly become a Wall Street darling since its public debut earlier this month.

It’s total worth, as of Monday morning, sat at $160 billion - making it the third most valuable automaker in the world, behind only Tesla and Toyota.

It’s on track to add roughly another $34 billion by the end of Monday’s session.

But Vinfast's small amount of publicly available shares has made the stock prone to volatility, with shares jumping or slumping more than 14% in 11 of the past 12 sessions.

The EV maker is almost entirely controlled by Pham Nhat Vuong, Vietnam's richest man, whose stake is roughly 99.7%, according to a filing.

It also faces a long road ahead before it can meaningfully compete with Tesla and legacy automakers.

Only 137 Vinfast EVs were registered in the U.S. through June, according to S&P Global Mobility. The company expects to sell as many as 50,000 electric vehicles this year, compared with Tesla's projection of 1.8 million.

To drive sales, Vinfast is breaking away from the direct-to-consumer approach used by Tesla and turning instead to dealers. It’s also building a $4 billion factory in North Carolina.

Vinfast is also entering the U.S. and European markets at a time when EV demand is slowing and Tesla has waged a price war with Ford and others to defend its dominance.