VinFast’s paltry U.S. new-vehicle registrations contrast with stock market zeal

Vietnamese startup VinFast, which debuted as a public company Tuesday, had just 151 U.S. new-vehicle registrations in the first half of the year for its newly launched VF 8 electric crossover, according to Experian data.

The modest volume contrasts with VinFast's sky-high valuation after listing on the Nasdaq through a merger. Its surging stock price pushed its market capitalization above that of General Motors and Ford Motor Co., Bloomberg reported.

Shares in VinFast have retreated from the initial offering, plunging 33 percent on Thursday to close at $20.

VinFast started importing VF 8s in December and had brought in just under 2,000 vehicles as of July, a spokesperson said last month. The company started delivering crossovers to customers a few months later but had a recall in May to fix a screen issue, slowing the delivery process.

According to the Experian data, the VF 8 had one new registration in February, 16 in March, 66 in April, 45 in May and 23 in June. Of 26 auto brands with new EV registrations in the first half, VinFast was No. 22 in volume behind Lexus with 1,026.

VinFast didn't immediately respond to a request for comment on the January-June registration numbers.

The spokesperson commented last month on previous registration data showing VinFast with 128 new registrations in the January-May period. The spokesperson said VF 8 sales as of mid-July numbered around 350 and that registration data lags sales data by a few weeks.

New-vehicle registration data serves as a reliable proxy for sales data since some EV makers, including market leader Tesla, do not provide sales data by country or break out all of their models.

Analysts say VinFast faces headwinds in the U.S. for several reasons: The brand is largely unknown; the VF 8 is priced above similar vehicles from Ford, Volkswagen and Hyundai; and Tesla's price cuts to the Model Y make the market-leading crossover highly competitive.

The base VF 8 starts at $47,200 with shipping, and it doesn't qualify for the federal tax incentive of up to $7,500. The Model Y starts at $49,380 and does qualify because it's built in North America.

VinFast plans to make the VF 8 in the U.S., along with the larger VF 9 and the smaller VF 7 crossovers, the company said. It broke ground on an assembly plant in North Carolina in July with plans to start production in 2025.

The automaker also said it's aware of journalist reviews that suggested the VF 8 was rushed to market and needs more fine-tuning.

"There have been some negative reviews," VinFast CEO Le Thi Thu Thuy told Bloomberg Television on Tuesday. "We take them very close to our heart, we reflect on the feedback from those reviews, and we make our vehicles better."

Thuy told Reuters that VinFast was changing its distribution model, which had been based on Tesla's direct-to-consumer approach, and expected to partner with dealerships in overseas markets.

"We are switching to a hybrid model where we have our own showrooms, as well as talking to dealers to open dealer showrooms," Thuy said.