VinFast ships 2nd batch of longer-range electric SUVs to North America

HANOI (Reuters) – Vietnam’s electric vehicle maker VinFast said on Monday it had shipped a second batch of 1,879 longer-range VF 8 sport utility vehicles (SUVs), as it seeks to expand its foothold in overseas markets.

VinFast, which is backed by Vietnam’s largest conglomerate Vingroup JSC, in November dispatched a shipment of 999 of its VF8 SUVs to California from Vietnam in November, but needed until March to prepare them for delivery to customers after disclosing the car would have a lower battery range than it had flagged to buyers.

After a 20-day sea journey, 1,098 of the cars of the new batch will land in California, while the remainder will go to Canada, VinFast said in a statement.

Deliveries will start from May for the U.S. market and June for customers in Canada, the statement said.

Currently, VinFast is offering a monthly lease price of $399 for the VF 8 City Edition model for a 24-month lease.

VinFast, which began operations in 2019, plans to expand in the U.S. market, where it said it would build a production plant in North Carolina expected to open in 2025.

In Monday’s statement, the company said it aimed to export a first batch of 700 VF 8 vehicles to Europe in mid-July this year and would also soon open global reservations for two new models.

The automaker delivered 865 VF 8 units domestically in the first quarter and has an annual production capacity of 250,000. VinFast has said it secured 55,000 orders globally as of December last year, of which 12,000 are from the U.S. market.

Last year VinFast filed for an initial public offering in the United States to list on the Nasdaq to fund its expansion. It posted a loss of $2.1 billion in 2022 on revenue of $634 million, it said in a registration statement for the listing.

(Reporting by Phuong Nguyen; Editing by Ed Davies)