With Earth Day just around the corner, it’s an electric week at Auto123 as we turn the lights towards noteworthy developments in the EV segment.
Vietnamese automaker VinFast delivered 9,689 vehicles in the first quarter of 2024, from January 1 to March 31. This represents a 444 percent increase over the same period in 2023.
With April sales added in, VinFast has passed the 10,000-unit mark.
This is obviously good news. The company delivered almost 35,000 vehicles last year, which means that the current pace would enable it to beat this mark. However, it's worth noting that in the fourth quarter of 2023, VinFast delivers 13,513 vehicles.
There is a caveat, however, and that is that 56 percent of the vehicles delivered were to companies linked to the VinFast empire. We know that the company is part of VinGroup, which is involved in a host of economic activities in Vietnam, including retailing and housing construction.
Currently, the brand’s North American offering includes just the VF 8 SUV for now, but it will soon be joined by the three-row VF 9. The VF 6 and VF 7 are set to follow, as is the VF 3, seen on the floor of various auto shows in recent months.
Elsewhere in the world, VinFast offers the VF e34, the VF 5 and the e-bus.
The company is growing worldwide, and now has 119 showrooms around the globe.
In the U.S. and Canada, VinFast has revised its strategy. Initially, there was no talk of dealerships, but rather of boutiques. Soon, the total number of dealerships will rise to 16 in the United States, spread across seven states: Connecticut, New York, North Carolina, Texas, Florida, Kansas and Kentucky.
In Canada, there are currently nine facilities, with four more to come, located across British Columbia, Quebec and Ontario.
For now, sales figures remain meagre in Canada. There is interest from consumers, but also a lot of caution towards the brand, which has yet to prove itself.
For the time being, VinFast's financial results show that, in terms of the cost of vehicles sold, losses exceed revenues: $419.3 million versus $270.5 million.
The battle is not won for VinFast, but the company is still here.