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The
company made a blowout debut on Wall Street this month and has
quickly grown in valuation to become the third-most valuable
automaker - only behind Tesla and Toyota.
But Vinfast's small amount of publicly available shares has made
the stock prone to volatility, with shares jumping or slumping
more than 14% in 11 of the past 12 sessions.
The stock was on track to add nearly $50 billion to its market
capitalization, based on the premarket share price of $90.55.
That potential one-day gain will be more than the individual
valuations of major U.S. automakers Ford Motor and General
Motors.
Vinfast is almost entirely controlled by Pham Nhat Vuong,
Vietnam's richest man and founder of parent conglomerate
Vingroup, with a stake of about 99.7%, according to a filing.
Despite the market enthusiasm, Vinfast faces a long road before
it can start competing meaningfully with Tesla and legacy
automakers that are pouring billions of dollars to grab a share
of the EV market.
Only 137 Vinfast EVs were registered in the United States
through June, according to S&P Global Mobility.
The firm is also entering the U.S. and European markets at a
time when EV demand is slowing and Tesla has waged a price war
to defend its dominance.
Vinfast expects to sell as many as 50,000 electric vehicles this
year, compared with Tesla's projection to deliver 1.8 million
cars.
To drive sales, Vinfast is breaking away from the
direct-to-consumer approach used by Tesla and turning to
dealers. The company is also building a $4 billion factory in
North Carolina.
(Reporting by Akash Sriram in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika
Syamnath)
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