VinFast Delivered an Impressive 9,535 Vehicles in Q2, But to Whom?
While it may seem like a miracle turnaround for VinFast after dire reviews of their first EV SUV, let's take a closer look at who's buying.
VinFast Auto, a Vietnamese start-up in the all-electric space, went public with their stock in the U.S. earlier this year. Despite lackluster reviews of their first American vehicle, the VF8 EV SUV, the stock market has welcomed them with open arms and stock buys to rally the company beyond those poor vehicles. Though it has dropped its stock value by 53 percent, VinFast revealed that it has delivered over 11,300 in the first half of 2023. But a recent Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing might make Wall Street think twice about supporting the EV brand.
According to VinFast—viaReuters—it delivered 9,535 vehicles in the second quarter of 2023, raising its total deliveries to 11,315 vehicles for the first half of the year. That would normally be amazing news for a start-up automotive company, but investors and buyers of VinFast stock may want to give pause after a report fromBarron's. An SEC report filed last Tuesday showed that more than 7,000 VinFast vehicles were purchased by taxi company Green and Smart Mobility. Again, sounds like great news until you see who owns it.
When looking deeper into Green and Smart, you'll find that this Vietnamese taxi company is owned by Vingroup, the parent company of VinFast. To put it in perspective, of the 2.3 billion shares offered by VinFast, Vingroup owns 1.2 billion of them while another 1.1 billion shares are held by Vietnam Investment Group. That company is led by Vingroup's former chairman and current board chair of VinFast and Green and Smart Mobility, Pham Nhat Vuong. Vuong also owns about 51 percent of Vingroup stock and effectively 99.7 percent of VinFast stock, according to the SEC filings that Barron's reported on.
That also means that of the 11,315 vehicles delivered, over 60 percent were effectively purchased by Vingroup. According to that same filing, the first quarter sales to Green and Smart Mobility were valued at $6.3 million of the total of $84 million VinFast earned in that same quarter, as well. It clearly remains to be seen if VinFast can support itself beyond the boundaries of its corporate conglomerate with sales to other parties. Along with the VF8 EV SUV, the automaker is now also taking reservations for a future, larger EV SUV dubbed the VF9 in the U.S.
Having experience in many forms of the automotive industry, Justin Banner has done more than just write about cars. For more than 15 years, he's had experience working as an automotive service technician—including a stint as a Virginia State Inspector—service advisor, parts sales, and aftermarket parts technical advisor (a fancy way of saying he helped you on the phone when you had trouble fitting your brakes over your aftermarket wheels and the like). Prior to his tenure as a full-time editor, Justin worked as a freelance writer and photographer for various publications and as an automotive content creator on YouTube. He’s also covered multiple forms of motorsports ranging from Formula Drift, drag racing, and time attack, to NASCAR, short course off-roading, and open desert racing. He's best known for breaking down complex technical concepts so a layperson can more easily understand why technologies, repairs, and parts should matter to them. At MotorTrend, Justin is part of the news team covering breaking news and topics while also working as a judge for MotorTrend Of the Year events and other major comparison tests.
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