VinFast aims to sell up to 50,000 EVs in 2023 — but it has only hit 23% of its target so far
VinFast electric vehicles are parked before delivery to their first customers at a store in Los Angeles, March 1, 2023.
Lisa Baertlein | Reuters
Vietnamese electric vehicle maker VinFast‘s ambitious plan to deliver as many as 50,000 vehicles this year is “unrealistic,” according to one analyst.
VinFast said it expects to deliver 40,000 to 50,000 vehicles in 2023 despite a weak global economy. That’s almost seven times the 7,400 EVs it sold last year, all in Vietnam.
The company delivered only 11,315 vehicles in the first half of this year, of which 7,100 were sold to Green and Smart Mobility, a Vietnamese taxi company controlled by parent Vingroup, the firm said during its second-quarter earnings call on Sept. 21. In April, Green SM launched a pure EV taxi service in Vietnam with VinFast models.
Shares of Vingroup, one of the largest conglomerates in Vietnam, closed at 45,200 Vietnamese dong ($1.85) on Wednesday, its lowest level since November 2017, according to Refinitiv data.
“More than 50% of EV volume during 1H2023 were to a related company while U.S. volume was less than 200 units raising serious concerns over demand for VinFast’s EVs,” Shifara Samsudeen, equity analyst at LightStream Research, said in a report published on SmartKarma.
Through June, only 137 VinFast EVs — all VF8 SUVs— were registered in the U.S., according to automotive data provider S&P Global Mobility which CNBC confirmed.
U.S. sales aren’t expected to improve any time soon. The reputational issues caused by the launch of the VF8 will not be solved by the VF9.
David Byrne
Analyst, Third Bridge
Meanwhile, U.S. rival Tesla and China’s XPeng delivered 889,015 and 300,145 electric cars, respectively, during the first half of the year.
“VinFast’s ambitious EV plan seems unrealistic. It seems unlikely for VinFast to meet its 50,000 EV target for 2023 and our revised forecast suggests there is further downside despite shares dropping more than 50% vs IPO,” said Samsudeen.
In response to CNBC’s request for comment, VinFast said it is “ramping up production to ensure delivery targets in international markets.”
“Besides, VinFast will soon expand to Southeast Asian and Middle Eastern markets soon, which will also boost our production,” the company told CNBC.
VinFast, which has yet to make a profit, began trading on the Nasdaq on Aug. 15. Its share price soared more than 250% on the first day of trading, but has since dropped more than 60%.
Ambitious plans
VinFast has been ramping up its expansion outside of Vietnam this year, in a bid to compete with automakers globally.
“We have established our operational facilities, including sales network in Vietnam, North America and Europe, and moving forward, we plan to expand our coverage to Asia-Pacific, Middle East and other potential markets globally,” VinFast CEO Lê Thị Thu Thủy said during the firm’s second quarter earnings call.
“We have ambitious plans to deliver seven models in Vietnam, North America, Europe and Asia over 2023 and 2024, such as delivering the VF9 in North America by the end of the year, as well as targeting first delivery of the – the VX6 later this year and the – the VX7 and VF3 in 2024,” said Lê.
Our U.S. sales are improving at our stores. And with the upcoming addition of dealers, we will likely exceed our plan for the year.
Higher prices
Analysts also noted that VinFast’s models are not competitively priced. For example, VinFast’s VF9 model is priced from $83,000 whereas the Tesla Model X is priced from $68,590 after federal tax credit and gas savings.
Additionally, Tesla passenger vehicles qualify for a $7,500 federal tax credit in the U.S., while VinFast vehicles are currently not eligible as they are not built in the U.S.
“[This suggests] that it may not as easy as said to increase the sales volume in the U.S. and other foreign markets given more established EV models are selling for a lower price,” said Samsudeen.
“Our experts questioned the pricing decision of VF9 in the US market. It is more expensive than key, more established competitors such as the Kia EV9 and the Tesla Model X, despite the platform being internal combustion engine-derived, compromising its performance and range,” said Bryne.
VinFast told CNBC that “experts have carefully researched and priced our vehicles properly.” It also said it does not consider some of these mentioned vehicles as their competitors, without specifying models.
During the second quarter, VinFast posted a net loss of $526.7 million, improving 8.2% from the same period a year ago.
VinFast expects to break even by the end of 2024, its founder Pham Nhat Vuong reportedly told investors at the company’s annual general meeting in May.
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:
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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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