Shares of Vietnamese electric vehicle maker VinFast fell sharply on Thursday, just two days after an IPO on Nasdaq. VinFast, the first car manufacturer created in Vietnam, hopes to find a place in the United States by offering models cheaper than its famous rival Tesla and a monthly battery rental system, supposed to lower the bill for the customer.
Launched Tuesday at 22 dollars, the action had ended the day at more than 37 dollars, thus valuing the company at some 85 billion dollars (about 78 billion euros), compared to 48 billion for Ford and 46 billion for GM . As of the Nasdaq’s close on Thursday, Vinfast, part of the Vingroup conglomerate, stock was trading at $19.80, down nearly 34%. This drop brings VinFast’s market value to around $46 billion, slightly more than that of General Motors ($45 billion), but less than that of Ford ($47 billion).
To list in the United States, VinFast merged with a SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company), the Black Spade Acquisition of Hong Kong casino magnate Lawrence Ho. Other electric vehicle startups introduced to the US stock market through a SPAC , such as Americans Nikola and Lucid, saw their valuations fall afterwards. And the title is likely to vary greatly since only a very small part of the capital is on the market.
VinFast is some 99% owned by its chairman, billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong. Vietnam’s richest man with his conglomerate Vingroup had started his business selling instant noodles in the former USSR. He launched VinFast in 2017, creating from scratch in two years a state-of-the-art factory in Haiphong (Northern Vietnam). Still, in 2022 VinFast posted a loss of 2.1 billion dollars.
The manufacturer has laid the foundations of a car and battery factory in North Carolina, from which 150,000 vehicles per year should come out from 2025. Its cost: 2 billion dollars. According to Vinfast, more than 10,000 American customers have already placed orders.
