EV maker VinFast (VFS) shines in US market debut, but is it worth more than Ford, GM?
Vietnamese EV maker VinFast celebrated its listing on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker “VFS” on Tuesday. During its market debut, VinFast’s market cap easily surpassed Ford and GM, ending the day worth almost as much as both combined.
VinFast stock soars during US market debut
Shortly after its business merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Black Spade Acquisition Co (BSAQ) was approved by shareholders last week, VinFast announced Monday it had completed the combination.
VinFast shares began trading this morning at around $22, more than double the $10 set stock price agreed upon with BSAQ at a value of $23 billion.
Well, investors were quick to pile in, sending VinFast stock shares over $34 a share shortly after noon. Although share prices slipped during afternoon trading hours, VinFast rallied into close, ending the day at $37 per share, up 270% from its planned IPO price.
At $37 a share, VinFast’s market value would be over $85 billion, significantly higher than that of Ford ($48 billion) and General Motors ($46 billion). Is VinFast worth more than nearly both Ford and GM combined?
Worth more than Ford and GM?
Since shipping its first batch of VF 8 electric SUVs to the US in November, the EV maker has sent nearly 3,000 models overseas. However, progress has been slow.
According to recent estimates from Kelley Blue Book, VinFast has sold 850 EVs in the US so far this year (11,300 globally). Of those, 740 of the sales occurred in the second quarter.
The EV maker has dealt with software issues that delayed its US rollout until March. More recently, VinFast broke ground on its first US electric vehicle production facility in North Carolina.
VinFast says it will invest up to $2 billion during Phase 1, with an area spanning roughly 1,800 acres. The plant will be divided into five main production areas: body shop, general assembly, press shop, paint shop, and energy center.
During the initial phase, the EV maker will focus on building VinFast VF 7, VF 8, and VF 9 electric models with over 150,000 annual production capacity once fully operational. Production is expected to begin in 2025.
VinFast generated $83.5 million in revenue in the first three months of the year, but operating losses reached -$472.1 million, resulting in a net loss of $598.3 million. The EV maker ended the quarter with $158.5 million in cash and equivalents.
The company’s chief financial officer, David Mansfield, told Reuters, “We have a number of strategic investors and institutional investors lined up. We expect to formulate some kind of capital raising over the next 18 months, for sure.”
Mansfield added, “We don’t need more equity capital, but if an opportunity is presented, we’ll obviously take advantage of that while we can.”
Meanwhile, Ford sold 14,843 EVs in the second quarter, down 2.7% from the first quarter. The primary reason for the dip is due to downtime at its Mexico plant, where the Mustang Mach-E is built.
Ford’s Model e EV unit generated $1.8 billion in revenue in the second quarter while operating losses reached $1.08 billion (keep in mind, Ford also has hybrid/ICE sales in addition to its commercial and software business). The automaker is pushing back its 600,000 EV production goal until 2024 after planning to hit it by the end of the year.
On the other hand, General Motors sold 15,652 EVs in the US in Q2, down 21% from the first three months of the year. Despite the Chevy Bolt EV and EUV accounting for over 93% of GM’s EV sales through the first half of the year, the automaker is discontinuing the current model to make room for its Ultium-based lineup (which will include a next-gen Bolt EV, don’t worry).
Electrek’s Take
I wouldn’t get too excited quite yet. We’ve seen plenty of startups (not just EV companies) soar on the first days or weeks of trading, only to fall significantly after that.
For example, Rivian’s market cap skyrocketed to over $150 billion within a week of its IPO in November 2021. The EV startup has watched its value dwindle over the years, settling around $20 billion currently.
VinFast is an exciting EV company with a potentially promising future, don’t get me wrong, but do I think it should be worth more than Ford, GM, Lucid, or Rivian? At this point, not necessarily. The market had a surprisingly positive response to VinFast’s market debut. We’ll keep you updated with the latest.
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If you’ve ever wondered what happens when you combine a fruit cart, a cargo bike, and a Piaggio Ape all in one vehicle, now you’ve got your answer. I submit, for your approval, this week’s feature for the Awesomely Weird Alibaba Electric Vehicle of the Week column – and it’s a beautiful doozie.
Feast your eyes on this salad slinging, coleslaw cruising, tuber taxiing produce chariot!
I think this electric vegetable trike might finally scratch the itch long felt by many of my readers. It seems every time I cover an electric trike, even the really cool ones, I always get commenters poo-poo-ing it for having two wheels in the rear instead of two wheels in the front. Well, here you go, folks!
Designed with two front wheels for maximum stability, this trike keeps your cucumbers in check through every corner. Because trust me, you don’t want to hit a pothole and suddenly be juggling peaches like you’re in Cirque du Soleil: Farmers Market Edition.
To avoid the extra cost of designing a linked steering system for a pair of front wheels, the engineers who brought this salad shuttle to life simply side-stepped that complexity altogether by steering the entire fixed front end. I’ve got articulating electric tractors that steer like this, and so if it works for a several-ton work machine, it should work for a couple hundred pounds of cargo bike.
Featuring a giant cargo bed up front with four cascading fruit baskets set up for roadside sales, this cargo bike is something of a blank slate. Sure, you could monetize grandma’s vegetable garden, or you could fill it with your own ideas and concoctions. Our exceedingly talented graphics wizard sees it as the perfect coffee and pastry e-bike for my new startup, The Handlebarista, and I’m not one to argue. Basically, the sky is the limit with a blank slate bike like this!
Sure, the quality doesn’t quite match something like a fancy Tern cargo bike. The rim brakes aren’t exactly confidence-inspiring, but at least there are three of them. And if they should all give out, or just not quite slow you down enough to avoid that quickly approaching brick wall, then at least you’ve got a couple hundred pounds of tomatoes as a tasty crumple zone.
The electrical system does seem a bit underpowered. With a 36V battery and a 250W motor, I don’t know if one-third of a horsepower is enough to haul a full load to the local farmer’s market. But I guess if the weight is a bit much for the little motor, you could always do some snacking along the way. On the other hand, all the pictures seem to show a non-electric version. So if this cart is presumably mobile on pedal power alone, then that extra motor assist, however small, is going to feel like a very welcome guest.
The $950 price is presumably for the electric version, since that’s what’s in the title of the listing, though I wouldn’t get too excited just yet. I’ve bought a LOT of stuff on Alibaba, including many electric vehicles, and the too-good-to-be-true price is always exactly that. In my experience, you can multiply the Alibaba price by 3-4x to get the actual landed price for things like these. Even so, $3,000-$4,000 wouldn’t be a terrible price, considering a lot of electric trikes stateside already cost that much and don’t even come with a quad-set of vegetable baskets on board!
I should also put my normal caveat in here about not actually buying one of these. Please, please don’t try to buy one of these awesome cargo e-trikes. This is a silly, tongue-in-cheek weekend column where I scour the ever-entertaining underbelly of China’s massive e-commerce site Alibaba in search of fun, quirky, and just plain awesomely weird electric vehicles. While I’ve successfully bought several fun things on the platform, I’ve also gotten scammed more than once, so this is not for the timid or the tight-budgeted among us.
That isn’t to say that some of my more stubborn readers haven’t followed in my footsteps before, ignoring my advice and setting out on their own wild journey. But please don’t be the one who risks it all and gets nothing in return. Don’t say I didn’t warn you; this is the warning.
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Environment
Podcast: Trump/GOP go after EV/solar, Tesla, Ford, GM EV sales, Electrek Formula Sun, and more
In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss Trump’s Big Beautiful bill becoming law and going after EVs and solar, Tesla, Ford, and GM EV sales, Electrek Formula Sun, and more
Today’s episode is brought to you by Bosch Mobility Aftermarket—A global leader and trusted provider of automotive aftermarket parts. To celebrate Amazon Prime Day July 8th through 11th, Bosch Mobility is offering exclusive savings on must-have auto parts and tools. Learn more here.
The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on Electrek’s YouTube channel.
As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.
After the show ends at around 5 p.m. ET, the video will be archived on YouTube and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps:
We now have a Patreon if you want to help us avoid more ads and invest more in our content. We have some awesome gifts for our Patreons and more coming.
Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the podcast:
- Electrek FSGP 2025: New teams, new cars, same solar spirit
- Congress votes to send 2 million US jobs to China, increase deficit, energy costs
- Tesla (TSLA) confirms 384,000 deliveries in Q2 2025, right on expectations
- Tesla prototype sparks speculation: a Model Y, maybe slightly smaller
- Tesla launches Oasis Supercharger with solar farm and off-grid batteries
- Tesla unveils its LFP battery factory, claims it’s almost ready
- Here’s why Ford’s electric vehicle sales crashed by nearly a third in Q2
- The Chevy Equinox EV is GM’s breakout star, but that’s not the only surprise
- Xpeng launches G7, a new Tesla Model Y competitor for just $27,000
Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 4:00 p.m. ET (or the video after 5 p.m. ET:
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