Stock crashes
E-car maker Vinfast’s flight lasts only two days
08/18/2023 11:46 am
On the first day of trading, Vinfast shares rose by 70 percent. The Vietnamese e-car maker wants to compete with Tesla with cheaper models. The euphoria after the stock market launch does not last long.
After the successful start of the stock exchange in New York at the beginning of the week, the price of the Vietnamese electric car manufacturer Vinfast crashed. The stock’s issue price was $22 and on Tuesday, the first day of trading, the price rose to more than $37. By the close of trading on Thursday, the price had fallen by around a third to $19.80. Vinfast wants to start selling cars in the US by the end of the year.
The company wants to compete with Tesla with cheaper models and also offers to rent the battery monthly. With a share price of more than $37, the company was valued at around $85 billion. It was therefore more valuable on the stock exchange than Ford or General Motors.
However, the share price in the USA is likely to continue to fluctuate strongly, because Vinfast only brought a minimal part of the shares to the stock exchange. Around 99 percent of the shares belong to the Vietnamese entrepreneur Pham Nhat Vuong, the richest man in the country. He laid the foundation for his fortune by selling instant noodles in the former Soviet Union.
He founded Vinfast in 2017. In just two years he built a modern factory in Haiphong in northern Vietnam. According to Vinfast, it produced and delivered around 19,000 cars by the end of June this year. In Europe, the company has opened two stores, in Paris and in Cologne. In 2022, the carmaker made a loss of $ 2.1 billion.
In the USA, Vinfast is planning a plant including a battery factory in North Carolina. From 2025, 150,000 cars a year are to roll off the assembly line there. According to Vinfast, more than 20,000 people in the United States have already ordered a model. Vinfast has been head of Le Thi Thu Thuy since early 2022. Her predecessor was ex-Opel boss Michael Lohscheller, who resigned from the post after just four months.