VinFast cuts jobs in North America, including its U.S. CFO

Electric-vehicle maker VinFast has cut about 80 jobs in North America, including its U.S. chief financial officer, raising questions about the health of the Vietnamese company ahead of a possible stock listing — and before it has even begun delivering cars to U.S. buyers.

Rodney Haynes, finance chief of VinFast U.S., has left amid a restructuring of the business, according to people familiar with the situation. There were also layoffs in Canada, the people said, asking not to be identified as the matter wasn’t public.

VinFast, part of Vietnam’s biggest conglomerate and backed by the country’s richest person, said late last month it was consolidating its U.S. and Canadian strategic business and management operations into a single unit called VinFast North America, headquartered in Los Angeles. Van Anh Nguyen was named chief executive officer of the new entity, while maintaining her role as CEO of VinFast U.S. Manufacturing, the company said. 

VinFast U.S. CEO Giang Nguyen has been reassigned to be deputy CEO of VinFast North America, according to the people. 

In response to questions from Bloomberg News, Vinfast said the restructuring was aimed at better serving customers in the region, and that it has been working with local service providers to improve efficiency. “This also leads to the streamlining of our North American operations and there are certain departments affected by this,” the EV maker said in an email. 

Haynes and Nguyen didn’t immediately respond to messages from Bloomberg.

VinFast has grand ambitions in the US, the first country beyond Vietnam that it is targeting with its EVs. The first shipment of vehicles arrived weeks ago, but first deliveries in the notoriously competitive car market have already been delayed — after initially saying they’d be pushed back from December to January, the company last week said it doesn’t expect them to begin until the second half of February. 

Against the backdrop of the layoffs and delays, the automaker plans a US initial public offering, saying in December that it was working with banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Citigroup Inc. Bloomberg reported last month that the listing may come in the second quarter.

VinFast was founded by billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong in 2017. The company has said it could deliver as many as 1 million cars globally in about five years. 

Reuters earlier reported that the company was cutting some U.S. jobs.