Originally published October 9, 2023 4:00 pm PDT
VinFast to receive largest taxpayer subsidy in North Carolina.
QUICK FACTS:
- Vietnamese electric vehicle (EV) company, VinFast, lost $623 million in the third quarter of 2023, according to a company report.
- Although VinFast brought in $342.7 million from the second to third quarter, the company’s net losses rose by 20% during that same period.
- The net loss of $622.9 million was an “increase [in losses] of 33.7% from the third quarter of 2022 and an increase of 19.7% from the second quarter of 2023,” the report describes.
- VinFast’s net losses have surpassed $5 billion since 2021.
- Reviews of one of VinFast’s EV products describe an SUV as being “sickness-inducing,” “terrible,” “sloppy,” and “borderline uncontrollable,” leading to all 999 vehicles sent to the United States being recalled.
- Despite the product recalls and reported losses, VinFast is planning to open a $4 billion production facility in 2025 in Chatham County, North Carolina, and will be partly subsidized by taxpayers.
FROM THE REPORT:
- “We aim for our vehicles to be present in up to 50 global markets and countries by the end of 2024,” the VinFast report reads. “In the U.S., this approach is intended to provide increased consumer access to substantially more states, as compared to a direct-to-customer model. Through the end of September 30, 2023, VinFast has received Applications/Letters of Intent (LOIs) from 27 dealers with more than 100 open points across 12 states in the U.S, including Florida, Texas, North Carolina, Virginia, Louisiana, New Jersey and Arkansas, among others.”
- “We see strong momentum in our business, supported by growing delivery volumes, increased revenues, and an improved path to profitability,” said David Mansfield, CFO of VinFast. “We are focused on our cost cutting initiatives, optimizing return on capital invested, and switching towards a capital-light distribution model. VinFast is on track to meet its deliveries guidance and is well-positioned to expand in strategic markets such as Indonesia and India.”
- VinFast also reported a 2.8% increase in EV sales from the second quarter of 2023, up 185.2% since the third quarter of 2022, for a total of $319.5 million.
- The report explained that the increase in vehicle sales over the third quarter of 2022 “was mainly due to a significant increase in EV and e-scooter sales volume in Vietnam in the third quarter of 2023.”
BACKGROUND:
- American Faith reported that a study from the Manhattan Institute doubts whether EVs are noticeably reducing carbon emissions.
- “Imagining a hypothetical all-EV world requires acknowledging the unavoidable fact of a rats’ nest of assumptions, guesses, and ambiguities regarding emissions,” wrote Mark Mills, senior fellow of the Manhattan Institute. “Much of the necessary data may never be collectible in any normal regulatory fashion, given the technical uncertainties and the variety and opacity of geographic factors, as well as the proprietary nature of many of the processes.”
- Although EVs do not put out carbon emissions while in use, “emissions occur elsewhere—before the first mile is ever driven and when the vehicle is parked to refuel,” Mills explained.
