By Phuong Nguyen and Akash Sriram
(Reuters) -Vietnamese electric vehicle maker VinFast’s losses widened in the fourth quarter, it said on Thursday, due to rising costs linked to its overseas expansion and free charging programme aimed at attracting buyers.
VinFast reported a net loss of $1.3 billion for the fourth quarter of 2024, worsening from a $650 million loss a year earlier and a $773 million loss in the third quarter.
The carmaker is focusing its expansion on Asia and said it would open assembly plants in India and Indonesia this year. It has struggled to penetrate the U.S. market and so analysts expect the impact from new U.S. tariffs on imported cars to be limited.
“We remain agile to the changes in regulatory and geopolitical landscape,” Chairwoman Thuy Le said on an earnings call.
The quarterly loss was due to the free charging programme, net realizable value and impairment of assets, it said.
“If we exclude the impact of the above items, the net loss margin improved to negative 94% in the fourth quarter from negative 109% in the third quarter,” VinFast’s Chief Financial Officer Lan Anh Nguyen said on an earnings call.
“In 2025, we are focused on scaling volume through new product launches and deepening our market presence in Asia,” she said.
Revenue jumped 56% in the fourth quarter from a year earlier to $678 million on increased deliveries of more affordable models, but missed analysts’ average forecast of $1.2 billion, provided by LSEG.
For 2024, the company recorded a $3.2 billion loss, worsening from a $2.4 billion loss a year earlier.
Revenue grew 58% to $1.8 billion.
Shares of VinFast fell slightly in pre-market trade in New York. The shares have dropped more than 20% since January.
VinFast has been expanding aggressively in Asian markets by offering promotions including a free charging programme to capitalize on growing demand for EVs in Asia and offset softer demand in the United States.
At the shareholder meeting on Thursday of VinFast’s parent company Vingroup, VinFast’s CEO Pham Nhat Vuong said the carmaker would focus more on Indonesia, India and the Philippines.
It plans to open a car assembly plant in India by the end of June, another one in Indonesia by October, Vuong said at the meeting.
Since its inception in 2017 up until November last year, VinFast has received capital injections totalling around $17 billion from Vingroup, its affiliates and founder Vuong, according to an announcement last year.
At Vingroup’s shareholder meeting, Vuong said the company aimed to sell around 200,000 vehicles in Vietnam this year, more than double the 97,000 units sold in 2024.
Deliveries in the U.S. and Canada accounted for 4% and 2% of the company’s total sales respectively, Chairwoman Thuy said on the earnings call.
For 2025, Thuy expected overseas markets would contribute more than 10% to VinFast’s total sales.
($1 = 26,017.0000 dong)
(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru and Phuong Nguyen in Hanoi; Editing by Louise Heavens and Susan Fenton)
