Struggling Vietnamese EV startup VinFast has reportedly delayed the construction of its North Carolina production facility. The plant, initially announced in March 2022, broke ground last July with an expected completion date by July of the 2024 calendar year. However, this timeline was later pushed back to 2025, and now, the plant launch timeline may be facing yet another delay.
According to a recent report from Automotive News, which cites Reuters, VinFast could postpone the facility’s launch as the company continues to suffer financial losses.
Founded in 2017, VinFast has yet to turn a profit, struggling even in its domestic Vietnamese market. Despite these challenges, the company has ambitious plans for the U.S. market, currently offering models like the five-passenger VF8 crossover and seven-passenger VF9 crossover for reservation. The VF8 is considered a direct competitor for the Chevy Blazer EV, while the VF9, a three-row model, finds its closest GM counterpart in the upcoming Cadillac Vistiq.
The VinFast facility in North Carolina represents a significant investment for VinFast, with a projected cost of $4 billion. Once operational, it was expected to produce 150,000 units annually and create 7,000 new jobs. Despite these ambitious targets, VinFast sold fewer than 1,000 units in North America last year and less than 35,000 units globally.
VinFast’s journey to becoming a publicly traded company saw a swift rise in valuation. Going public in August of 2023, the company was initially valued at $65 billion, surpassing both GM and Ford. However, this valuation plummeted soon after, with the current market cap standing at $11.08 billion.
The continued delays and financial hurdles raise questions about VinFast’s ability to establish a significant foothold in the U.S. market. The company’s ongoing struggles also reflect broader challenges facing new entrants in the competitive EV landscape, especially in the face of declining EV demand and other headwinds.
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Comments
Why do they building this crap that no one wants? The only place I see EV’s are on dealers lots, not on the road. There is no infrastructure to support them and nobody wants these fire traps in their garages.
Manufacturers like building EVs. They are cheaper, easier, won’t last as long , and they can potentially recycle the batteries. If they all stick together, we’ll all eventually be buying an EV
Good for them, bad for the consumer.
Nobody goes downtown any more; it is just too crowded there.
(Could be by Yoga Berri)
Apparently these cars have horrendous reviews. Though I actually think they aren’t bad looking. What they need is more dealers. From what I understand they only sell in California.
The complaints were not all that serious and most of them centered on software issues and some around handling. From what I read, many of these have been quickly corrected. I think they can build competitive products but they need staying power in the marketplace. I wouldn’t write them off by any means.
They will need customers, I guess they exist in Kalifornia.
The numbers show internal combustion (ICE) vehicles have many times more fires than battery electric vehicles (BEV). Electric car and other electric device fires have been newsworthy though. I enjoy driving the Chevy Bolt, sorry to see it discontinued. Here’s hoping GM’s Ultium platform will keep that company in business when ICE cars are finished.
You won’t live long enough to see the end of ICE cars.
Now Japan is starting to invest on EV which makes harder for vnfast to compete
They are rival because they build unreliable EVs.
i bet they probably will file for bankcruptcy in 2025
Who wants another potentially unreliable EV from a totally unknown company? The cars look completely derivative, just like every other EV except with different front and rear fascias. With such huge initial investments needed and the chance to make a profit slim to none, what is the point??
The biggest problem with EV startups is where are you going to go for service? They don’t have dealerships in every major region.
Good luck getting parts in the future.