VINFAST Auto said its third-quarter loss narrowed and revenue jumped as the company delivered more cars.
The Vietnamese electric vehicle (EV) maker reported a net loss of 13.3 trillion dong (S$705 million) in the third quarter, a decrease of 14.8 per cent from a year ago.
Revenue jumped 49.3 per cent during the same period to 12.3 trillion dong, the company said in a filing to US authorities where it’s listed.
VinFast announced last month that it delivered a total of 21,912 cars in the third quarter, up 115 per cent from a year ago. The sales were underpinned by “robust” deliveries in the domestic market, which the company said will play a key role in driving revenue for the remainder of 2024.
The company also delivered over 11,000 cars to domestic customers in October, bringing total deliveries in Vietnam to more than 51,000 units in the 10-month period.
VinFast plans to start construction of a new plant in the central province of Ha Tinh in December to produce its VF 3 and VF 5 affordable EVs, VinFast chairwoman Le Thi Thu Thuy said. The factory, which will be ramped up over time, will eventually have a maximum production capacity of 300,000 EVs a year. It is expected to begin operations next year.
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“We expect to finish 2024 on a strong note and meet our 80,000-vehicle delivery target” with the third quarter’s momentum carrying over into the fourth quarter, she said.
Founder pledge
The struggling EV maker has received pledges from its billionaire founder and chief executive officer Pham Nhat Vuong to boost capital twice this year. He vowed to give about US$2 billion from his personal wealth to the company, he said earlier this month. He had already promised at least US$1 billion cash to it back in April and said in June that he was willing to bet all his money on the company’s growth.
Meanwhile, parent company Vingroup also said it would loan VinFast as much as US$1.4 billion.
VinFast has been bleeding cash since it shipped its first vehicles to the US in late 2022. The loan from Vingroup is the latest sign of the company’s backing for the unit, which aspires to be a global EV brand amid fierce competition from established automakers and fast-growing Chinese companies. The goal is for VinFast to break even and have “cash flow equilibrium by the end of 2026”, it said in a Nov 12 statement.
The company expects to open an India factory in the first half of next year and broke ground on an assembly plant in Indonesia in July. It has delayed the opening of a factory in North Carolina by three years to 2028.
VinFast went public in the US in August 2023 via the acquisition of a blank-check company Black Spade Acquisition. Its shares have plunged about 53 per cent this year. BLOOMBERG
