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Vietnamese EV maker VinFast (VFS) announced Monday that EV deliveries rose over 400% in Q2 compared to the first three months of the year. However, the primary reason for the jump is due to sales to a related party.

A closer look at VinFast’s Q2 EV deliveries

VinFast delivered 9,535 electric vehicles in the second quarter of 2023, up 435% from Q1, bringing the total to 11,315 for the first half of the year.

However, of the 11K EVs delivered, 7,310 were for Green and Smart Mobility (GSM), according to Barrons. VinFast’s parent company, Vingroup, established the green transport rental and taxi company in March to promote the use of the automaker’s electric cars and scooters throughout Vietnam.

GSM began operations in April and is expected to expand throughout the region. According to an SEC filing last week, sales of vehicles to GSM accounted for $6.3 million of VinFast’s roughly $84 billion in first-quarter sales.

VinFast will release its second-quarter earnings on Thursday, July 21, before the market opens. We will get a closer look at what percent of sales were directly to GSM then.

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First VinFast VF 9 deliveries (Source: VinFast)

The Vietnamese EV maker has been trending in the news after its explosive US IPO last month led to a massive valuation, surpassing that of Ford, GM, VW, Rivian, and more.

At one point, VinFast’s market cap was worth $215 billion, more than all four listed above combined. VinFast is worth around $40 billion today, still higher than Rivian ($23B) and Lucid ($13B).

VinFast-EV-deliveries
VinFast (VFS) stock chart since IPO (Source: TradingView)

Since hitting a peak of $93 per share in intraday trading on August 28, VinFast stock has fallen over 81%, settling around $17.50.

Electrek’s Take

Although SPACs have been known for their wild price swings, there’s another reason for the volatility. About 99.7% of VinFast’s stock is controlled by Vingroup’s former chairman, Pham Nhat Vuong, leaving an extremely small float (amount of shares available for public trading).

Nearly 1.2 billion of VinFast’s 2.3 billion shares outstanding are held by VinGroup. Another 1.1 billion is owned by Vietnam Investment Group, which Voung is the sole shareholder of, and another investment company (Asian Star) controlled by the leader.

Last week’s filing was to register around 11 million shares in a secondary sale, which will increase the number of shares available for trading. You can already see it having an impact on share prices.

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Troubling times for Tesla, Nissan, and Dodge – plus some fun yellow stuff!

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Troubling times for Tesla, Nissan, and Dodge – plus some fun yellow stuff!

Tesla’s Q2 results are in, and they are way, way down from Q2 of 2024. At the same time, Nissan seems to be in serious trouble and the first-ever all-electric Dodge muscle car is getting recalled because its dumb engine noises are the wrong kind of dumb engine noises. All this and more on today’s deeply troubled episode of Quick Charge!

We’ve also got an awesome article from Micah Toll about a hitherto unexplored genre of electric lawn equipment, a $440 million mining equipment deal, and a list of incompetent, corrupt, and stupid politicians who voted away their constituents’ futures to line their pockets.

Prefer listening to your podcasts? Audio-only versions of Quick Charge are now available on Apple PodcastsSpotifyTuneIn, and our RSS feed for Overcast and other podcast players.

New episodes of Quick Charge are recorded, usually, Monday through Thursday (and sometimes Sunday). We’ll be posting bonus audio content from time to time as well, so be sure to follow and subscribe so you don’t miss a minute of Electrek’s high-voltage daily news.

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Drop us a line at tips@electrek.co. You can also rate us on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, or recommend us in Overcast to help more people discover the show.


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Your personalized solar quotes are easy to compare online and you’ll get access to unbiased Energy Advisors to help you every step of the way. Get started here.

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OpenAI says Robinhood’s tokens aren’t equity in the company

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OpenAI says Robinhood's tokens aren't equity in the company

Jaque Silva | Nurphoto | Getty Images

OpenAI is distancing itself from Robinhood‘s latest crypto push after the trading platform began offering tokenized shares of OpenAI and SpaceX to users in Europe.

“These ‘OpenAI tokens’ are not OpenAI equity,” OpenAI wrote on X. “We did not partner with Robinhood, were not involved in this, and do not endorse it.”

The company said that “any transfer of OpenAI equity requires our approval — we did not approve any transfer,” and warned users to “please be careful.”

Robinhood announced the launch Monday from Cannes, France, as part of a broader product showcase focused on tokenized equities, staking, and a new blockchain infrastructure play. The company’s stock surged above $100 to hit a new all-time high following the news.

“These tokens give retail investors indirect exposure to private markets, opening up access, and are enabled by Robinhood’s ownership stake in a special purpose vehicle,” a Robinhood spokesperson said in response to the OpenAI post.

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Robinhood offered 5 euros worth of OpenAI and SpaceX tokens to eligible EU users who signed up to trade stock tokens by July 7. The assets are issued under the EU’s looser investor restrictions via Robinhood’s crypto platform.

“This is about expanding access,” said Johann Kerbrat, Robinhood’s SVP and GM of crypto. “The goal with tokenization is to let anyone participate in this economy.”

The episode highlights the dynamic between crypto platforms seeking to democratize access to financial products and the companies whose names and equity are being represented on-chain

U.S. users cannot access these tokens due to regulatory restrictions.

Robinhood hits record high as OpenAI, SpaceX go on-chain

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BYD launches new discounts, offering +50% off smart driving tech

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BYD launches new discounts, offering +50% off smart driving tech

Despite the warnings, BYD continues introducing new discounts. On Wednesday, BYD’s luxury off-road brand began offering over 50% Huawei’s smart driving tech.

BYD introduces new discounts on smart driving tech

After BYD cut prices again in May, the China Automobile Manufacturers Association (CAMA) warned that the ultra-low prices are “triggering a new round of price war panic.”

Although they didn’t single out BYD, it was pretty obvious. BYD slashed prices across 22 of its vehicles by up to 34%, triggering several automakers to follow suit in China.

BYD’s cheapest EV, the Seagull, typically starts at about $10,000 (66,800 yuan). After the price cuts, the Seagull is listed at under $8,000 (55,800 yuan).

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It doesn’t look like China’s EV leader plans to slow down anytime soon. Fang Cheng Bao, BYD’s luxury off-road brand, introduced new discounts on Huawei’s smart driving tech on Wednesday.

The limited-time offer cuts the price of Huawei’s Qiankun Intelligent Driving High-end Function Package to just 12,000 yuan ($1,700).

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BYD Fang Cheng Bao 5 SUV testing (Source: Fang Cheng Bao)

Buyers who order the smart driving tech in July will save over 50% compared to its typical price of 32,000 yuan ($4,500).

Earlier this year, Fang Chang Bao launched the Tai 3, its most affordable vehicle, starting at 139,800 yuan ($19,300). The Tai 3 is about the size of the Tesla Model Y, but costs about half as much.

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BYD Fang Cheng Bao Tai 3 electric SUV (Source: Fang Cheng Bao)

The Tai 3 will spearhead a new sub-brand of electric SUVs following the more premium Bao 8 and Bao 5 hybrid SUVs.

BYD’s luxury off-road brand sold 18,903 vehicles last month, up 50% from May and 605% compared to last year. Fang Cheng Bao has now sold over 10,000 vehicles for three consecutive months.

The Chinese EV giant sold 382,585 vehicles in total in June, an increase of 12% from last year. In the first half of the year, BYD’s cumulative sales reached over 2.1 million, a YOY increase of 33%.

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