VinFast’s 2023 Car Sales Miss Target Amid Slow EV Adoption Rate

Nguyen Kieu Giang, Bloomberg News

VinFast Auto Ltd. electric vehicle VF5 model on display at the company's showroom in Hanoi, Vietnam, on Thursday, Sept. 7, 2023. VinFast is one of Vietnam’s most high-profile companies, backed by the country’s wealthiest man Pham Nhat Vuong — who has established Vingroup JSC, a conglomerate spanning homes, hotels, hospitals and shopping malls. The group, together with its affiliates and lenders, have deployed $8.2 billion to fund VinFast’s operating expenses and capital expenditures the last six years. , Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) -- VinFast Auto Ltd. said it delivered fewer-than-targeted electric cars last year, amid a slower electric-vehicle adoption rate.

The Vietnamese EV maker sold a total of 34,855 cars in 2023, it said in an emailed statement Thursday. The company delivered 13,513 cars in the fourth quarter, 35% higher than the number of deliveries in the previous three months.

Despite a ramp up in vehicle deliveries in the fourth quarter, “amid economic headwinds, slow EV adoption rate in certain regions has adversely affected the deliveries plan,” Tran Mai Hoa, deputy chief executive officer of sales and marketing at VinFast Global, said in the statement.

As of Dec. 31, VinFast — backed by Vietnam’s richest man Pham Nhat Vuong — has sold a cumulative 42,291 vehicles globally since its first deliveries in 2021, according to the statement.

VinFast, which is constructing a $2 billion manufacturing complex in North Carolina and planning factories in Indonesia and India, had forecast sales to reach 45,000 to 50,000 last year.

VinFast went public in the US last August by merging with blank-check company Black Spade Acquisition Co., and reported a wider loss in the third quarter.

Read: VinFast’s Loss Narrows, Revenue Jumps on Higher EV Sales