VinFast Difficulty Staying In The American Market, Many Dealers Delayed Factory Closed

VinFast Dealer in America. (Photo: Carscoops)

JAKARTA VinFast's efforts to compete in the United States market are increasingly looking heavy. The Vietnamese car manufacturer has not been able to get significant results amid the weakening sales, until the dealer continues to decline.

As more partners withdrew, big question marks also emerged regarding VinFast's future in one of the world's most competitive automotive markets. VinFast currently only markets VF 8 and VF 9 three lines in the US.

Whereas previously the company had rolled out a big plan to present VF 3 compact to pickup trucks for American consumers. This ambition is now further from reality as reported by Carscoops, Friday, December 12.

The company has also started construction of a plant in North Carolina in 2023 with a production target a year later. But the plan was in disarray, construction was halted, and the factory's operational schedule was delayed until 2028.

The situation in the dealer network is no less concerning. Citing AutoNews reports, VinFast now only has less than two dozen stores still operating across the US.

The number continued to decline after one location closed in July, followed by a close in November, and another location in North Carolina was confirmed to follow before the end of the year. Among the remaining dealers, many only operate half-heartedly.

Some do not have a stock of vehicles at all, while others only keep a few units. Of the 22 dealers who are said to be still active, only 17 have electric vehicles (EVs) in their lots and most only display a maximum of 15 units.

In fact, one dealer in Florida has only one VF 8 unit in 2024 with a tag of 52,910 dollars. VinFast's sales in the US also went free, in the first ten months of this year, only 1,413 vehicles were registered or down 57 percent compared to the previous year.

Ironically, this decline occurred when the national EV market actually grew 11 percent. In fact, in the early stages of expansion, VinFast targets to be able to collaborate with 125 dealers and open hundreds of outlets by the end of 2024.

However, until August, the new company claimed to have nearly 30 authorized dealers. VinFast boss Thuy Thu Le, admits it is now halting aggressive expansion in the US and will not open a new dealer in the near future.

"Given the tariff situation and instability in the electric vehicle market, we need to see how the situation subsides before we are really aggressively expanding in the US," Thuy told AutoNews.

Until we see growth and stability in the US market, we have no intention of opening more dealers. On the other hand, we nurture relationships with existing dealers and ensure they can achieve profitability more quickly," he continued.