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Automotive: VinFast shifts focus to Asia amid widening losses

Vietnamese electric vehicle (EV) maker VinFast reported a US$1.26 billion loss in Q4 2024, an 81 percent increase year-on-year. The company will deprioritise North America and Europe, turning instead to Asia, including India, Indonesia, the Philippines, and Vietnam, Bloomberg has reported.

Key points:

  • Q4 2024 loss: US$1.26 billion, up 131% from Q3 and 81% year-on-year
  • Full-year loss 2024: US$3.18 billion, up 28.4% from 2023
  • Full-year revenue: US$1.8 billion, up 57.9%
  • Q4 global deliveries: 53,139 EVs, up 143% from Q3
  • 2024 global deliveries: 97,399 EVs, up 192%
  • New factories: India (June 2025), Indonesia (October 2025), Ha Tinh (Vietnam, July 2025)
  • US North Carolina plant delayed to 2028
  • Founder Pham Nhat Vuong committed US$2 billion in personal funds through 2026
  • Over VND 27 trillion (US$1 billion) already disbursed in grants and loans

VinFast’s pivot away from Western markets to Asia marks a major strategy shift as it battles soaring costs and logistics barriers. Despite massive injections of personal and group capital by Pham Nhat Vuong, VinFast remains deeply loss-making. As a major player in Vietnam’s automotive industry, if it continues down this path it could have sizable implications for Vietnam’s economy more broadly.

See also: Media Relations in Vietnam: Lessons from VinFast

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