- The Vietnamese car maker reveals that most of its EV sales in H1 23 were made to a related entity.
- Vietnamese EV maker VinFast Auto which was listed on Nasdaq last month in a blaze of publicity, amid a huge spike and subsequent decline in its share price, is back in the headlines again.
- In filings made to the SEC VinFast has reported that most of the EVs it has sold were bought by Green and Smart Mobility or GSM. a Vietnamese taxi company, that is controlled by VinFast’s parent company, Vingroup.
Few sales and fewer customers
Vinfast sold 11,300 vehicles in the first half of 2023, 7,100 of which were purchased by GSM.
Vinfast has said that it expects to sell 50,000 vehicles this year yet the FT notes that GSM recently signed a 24-month deal to purchase 30,000 EVs from the company.
Vinfast’s total sales in 2022 amounted to 24,000 vehicles. However, at one point its share price valued the company at as much as $200 billion, more than twice as much as the market caps of GM and Ford combined.
The news calls into question VinFast’s valuation and prospects in a competitive sector
Vinfast share price has fallen substantially from its peak and its market cap is now closer to $36.00 billion with the stock trading at around $16.80 versus a high of $93.00 posted on the 28th of August.
Vinfast was listed on the Nasdaq via a merger with a special purpose acquisition compnay or SPAC, the EV maker didnt raise any new cash in the listing and only listed a fraction of VinFast’s stock in the deal.
There is no suggestion that Vinfast has broken any rules or acted illegally in any way. However, the nested nature of its relationship with GSM, which appears to be its only major customer is not ideal.
One wonders how much latent demand for “high-end” EVs as taxis there is in a country with a GDP of less than $410.0 billion and average wages of just over $250.00 per month.
