EV maker Vinfast sets ambitious 2024 delivery target

Vietnam-based electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer Vinfast Auto has set a 100,000 unit delivery target for 2024 following strong car dealership growth, after missing its target last year.

The firm expects a majority of the deliveries to happen during the second half of the year, with half from Vietnam and the remaining half split between other regions.

Vinfast has called Indonesia the "first choice" in its growth plan for Asia, having agreed to supply 600 EVs to three Indonesian firms in a 22 February announcement. Additional fleet announcements are likely, it said without elaborating.

Vietnam remains an important market for Vinfast in 2024 and 2025, its chief executive officer Le Thi Thu Thuy said earlier this month. But the firm expects greater contribution from North America when its dealership in the region picks up, as well as from India and other Asean countries when Vinfast starts exporting right-hand drive models at the beginning of 2025.

The firm delivered 34,855 EV units in 2023, almost five times higher from a year earlier. But it missed its delivery target of 40,000-50,000 units. Vinfast now has a production capacity of up to 300,000 units/yr, Thuy said.

Vinfast's EV sales value more than doubled on the year to almost $1.1bn in 2023, but the company has been making losses. Net loss was up by 15pc on the year to $2.4bn in 2023, with loss from operations narrowing by 4.8pc to around $1.7bn.

"We remain focused on reducing production and bill of materials (BOM) costs and strategically optimising our global manufacturing capex," Vinfast's chief financial officer Anh Nguyen said. The firm is working on initiatives aimed at cutting around 40pc of BOM costs within two years of its vehicle model launches.

Vinfast said that it is setting up EV plants in Indonesia and India to take advantage of the respective governments' tax incentives. The company had previously disclosed the plan in 2023, with a planned capacity of up to 50,000 units/yr and an estimated capital expenditure of $150-200mn for each plant in the first phase. Production is likely to start by 2026.

The firm in January announced that it will invest $2bn in south India's Tamil Nadu state. The project broke ground on 21 February.

By Joseph Ho