VinFast founder has no plans to add money to the EV maker: Bloomberg

Vietnam’s Forbes-listed billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong does not plan to inject his own money into electric vehicle startup VinFast even as the unit car founded by him has seen its factory construction plans in the U.S. behind schedule, Bloomberg reported Tuesday.

“Currently, Mr. Vuong has no plans” to personally invest further in VinFast, Le Thi Thu Thuy, global CEO of VinFast and vice chair of Vingroup, said in response to questions from Bloomberg News.

Vuong, whose net worth is around $4.1 billion, is the chairman of Vingroup, a Vietnamese conglomerate whose ecosystem also includes real estate, leisure parks, hospitals, and a university. He founded VinFast in 2017 as a producer of fossil fuel cars operating a manufacturing complex in northern Vietnam’s Hai Phong city, and the unit has gradually shifted to total EV production.

VinFast announced in July 2022 that it had secured a $1.2 billion incentive package from the State of North Carolina for its electric vehicle manufacturing project in the U.S. The economic incentive package, signed by Governor Roy Cooper, was the largest ever granted in North Carolina. VinFast will be the first car factory and the largest economic development project in the state's history until that time.

Tuesday’s Bloomberg report said VinFast lost $1.3 billion in 2021 and close to $1.5 billion in the nine months through September 30, according to a filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission ahead of VinFast’s planned initial public offering. The December filing also said the company expects to continue to incur operating and net losses in the near term.

In the filing, VinFast said Vingroup had issued support letters to the effect that “Vingroup has the ability and will continue to provide financial support sufficient to meet our needs for continued operation.” The document also said that VinFast will “require significant additional capital,” expected to come via debt and equity financing and related-party financing, according to the Tuesday report.

VinFast was to begin construction of its planned North Carolina plant in the U.S. in September, Thuy said on the sidelines of the Qatar Economic Forum in June last year. The factory even won praise from U.S. President Joe Biden in March 2022. He tweeted that it was the “latest example of my economic strategy at work.”

Thuy told Bloomberg this week that the factory has “basically completed the site clearance” and VinFast is “finalizing the permits so construction can commence.” She added VinFast is still on track to start trial production at the North Carolina facility by 2024.

VinFast is cutting its workforce in the U.S. amid a restructuring in its major overseas market, the company said on February 6 as it grapples with a stalled shipment of its first cars and prepares for a potential stock listing. Its workforce will not shrink in Vietnam where most of the company's staff, including its factory and engineering operations, are located.

In late January, VinFast said it was merging its U.S. and Canadian operations into a single business unit, but did not announce any job cuts at the time, according to Reuters.

The firm announced Tuesday that VinFast Canada will be on site in Toronto at the 2023 Canadian International Auto Show, taking place on February 17-26, with its full range of electric SUVs namely VF 6, VF 7, VF 8, and VF 9. VinFast will provide VF 8 test drives on Canada’s largest indoor test track to bring first-hand experience to customers, the EV maker said.

Nguyen Thi Van Anh, CEO of VinFast North America said: “We are proud to be taking part in the Canadian International Auto Show... Toronto is where the first of our stores opened nationally for VinFast. We believe this will be a solid foundation for VinFast's development in Canada.”