Aw, VinFast Thinks It's A Real Car Company

Photo: VinFast

VinFast, a company that makes bad cars and then apparently sells them back to itself, has big plans. The automaker is eyeing scale and expansion, with plans for new factories in Europe and North America, and it wants the sales to match: 50,000 EVs sold in 2023 alone. The only problem for VinFast is that this goal doesn’t seem to be possible.

EV Racing In Italy | Jalopnik Visits

CNBC reports that VinFast aims to sell “40,000 to 50,000″ EVs in 2023, which would be a staggering number for any brand that’s still proving itself to buyers. Even Tesla, by now an established member of the auto marketplace, only sold 66,700 Model S sedans and Model X crossovers last year — combined. VinFast’s sales goals seem unmoored from its market realities.

So it should be no surprise that VinFast is far, far off-target. The company sold 11,315 vehicles in the first two quarters of 2023, and the vast majority of those were sold to its parent company’s taxi wing. Based on CNBC’s numbers, a mere 4,215 cars were sold to real, human buyers. At this rate, the company could be beaten out for volume by Rolls-Royce.

The story gets even worse in the U.S., according to CNBC. VinFast has apparently sold just 137 cars so far in the States — fewer than Toyota sold Grand Highlanders in the first half of the year. The company does still beat out the Alfa Romeo Tonale, though.

VinFast’s lofty goals seem all but impossible to reach, especially when the company seems committed to not improving its single, bad product. Will the automaker learn from its mistakes, rework its upcoming cars, and position itself as a true competitor in the market? Maybe, but I won’t hold my breath.