VinFast Auto Ltd.

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to VinFast Auto's first quarter 2024 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you'll need to press star 11 on your telephone. You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star 11 again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker, Nhi Nguyen. Please begin.

Thank you, operator, and good morning to everyone. My name is Nhi Nguyen, IR Manager at BINFAS. Thank you for joining us for our 2024 First Quarter Earnings Conference. Joining me on the call today are Chairwoman of the Board, Madam Thuy Le, and our CFO, Ms. Ann Nguyen, We will start the call with first quarter performance update and present our outlook for the year. We will reference a presentation today, which is accessible on the IR website. After management presentation, we will have 30 minutes for Q&A. Before I turn it over to Madame Thuy Le, let me remind you that some of the statements on this call include forward-looking statements. under federal securities law. This includes, without limitation, statements regarding the future financial and operating outlook, guidance, as well as macroeconomics, industry trends, company initiatives, and other future events. These statements are based on the predictions and expectations as of today. Actual events or results may differ due to a number of risks and uncertainties. We refer you to the cautionary language and the risk factors in our most recent filings with the SEC. In addition, management will make reference to non-GAAP financial during this call. A discussion why we use non-GAAP and information regarding the reconciliation of our non-GAAP versus GAAP is available on the press release that we issued this morning or you can find it in the final page of our presentation. With that said, Now, I would like to invite Madam Thuy Le to start with management presentation. Thank you, Nhi.

I'd like to start by addressing the broader EV industry context. It is important to acknowledge that macroeconomics and geopolitical uncertainties continue to impact businesses and consumers globally. As a global company, we operate in a diverse range of strategic markets, including North America, Europe, Middle East, Southeast Asia, and South Asia. While we are currently observing certain level of weaknesses in some of our markets, we view this as temporary challenges. Our confidence in the EV industry's medium and long-term prospects remains strong. This confidence stems from several factors. including supportive government initiatives and the EV market's anticipated transition from early to mass adoption, and the exponential growth projected in ex-China markets. I also would like to re-emphasize our focus on EV over plug-in hybrid of gasoline cars. This strategy allows us to leverage our low-cost manufacturing base, mature supply chain, share platforms and to stay true to our mission to play an impactful role in the push for transition to green mobility and carbon neutrality. EV is a better choice to make it happen. Now, let's turn to our progress in the first quarter. We entered a number of new markets and increased vehicle deliveries across our global markets. We deliver 9,689 vehicles during the first quarter, representing a year-over-year increase of 444%. While the majority of our sales this quarter was domestic, we saw an uptick in the US, spoiled by a special leasing deal of $249 per month on VF8. We remain confident of our full-year delivery target of 100,000 vehicles supported by the robust ramp-up of showrooms and the availability of new models targeting a wider customer base in multiple new markets during the second half of this year. For the first quarter, our back-selling models were the A-segment VF5, our current most affordable option that was launched last year, which accounted for about half of our deliveries, followed by the VF8, and the VF6. Our VF6 model has been well received in the local market since its launch in late December last year, and we are excited for the addition of this model to overseas markets where options for affordable and good quality EVs are still limited. Now I would like to share some updates on three fronts, dealership distribution, new markets engines, and new product deliveries. Since we pivoted to the hybrid distribution strategy in the fourth quarter of 2023, we have made steady progress in developing our dealership network. Our Capitalite model is steadily accelerating our global go-to-market strategy, and we support both our sales growth and cash position. At the end of the first quarter, in North America, Our active distribution network includes 15 VinFast-owned showrooms in California, two showrooms owned by Leith and Castor USA in North Carolina and Kansas, and other VinFast-owned showrooms in Canada. In the U.S. alone, we completed the signing of another 10 dealership agreements besides the pre-existing six agreements. We are working to continue growing our dealership coverage in this region and will share more progress in our future announcements. We are already seeing our hybrid distribution strategy deliver promising results in the U.S., with sales starting to be generated from our dealers. We have also seen promising growth in the U.S. market following the launch of VF8 and its continuous improvements and software updates. We expect further growth in 2024 as the VF9 will be available for delivery in the US market, starting in late Q2, early Q3, and the VF7 after that. Notably, we saw a pickup in consumer interest on the back of attractive lease offers amidst macroeconomic headwinds, confirming our belief in consumers' demand for EV in this market. Our dealers have been receiving positive feedback from US customers. Most were surprised how well equipped the VF8 is as the first product from a new EV brand. Customers have particularly praised the smooth acceleration, spacious interior with comfortable seats and well-thought-out layout. In addition to the US, Canadian and European markets, we are also exploring dealership partnership with other parts of the world while the EV revolution is still at early stage, like in South and Southeast Asia. At the same time, capturing the opportunities in new markets such as the Middle East and Africa. As discussed in the last quarter, Asia will remain one of our key strategic markets. We believe that it represents the future of the automotive and electric vehicle market, driven by demographics and government drive and incentive for EV adoption. Let's take a closer look at our performance in three key markets in Asia. We will start with Thailand. Last month, We announced our official launch in Thailand, one of Southeast Asia's most vibrant electric vehicle markets with a relatively established charging stations infrastructure out of ASEAN countries. To showcase our commitment to sustainable mobility, we unveiled a diverse range of green solutions during the Bangkok International Motor Show and signed LOI with 15 initial dealers in Thailand. Many of those are already discussing with us regarding optimal showroom locations. At the event, we display right-hand drive versions of six of our models, including the VF5, VFE34, VF6, VF7, VF8, and VF9, along with our complete lineup of electric scooters and our electric pickup concept, the VF-White. Now, I would like to turn to India. India's rapidly growing market has great potential and is a key component of our global multifaceted expansion strategy. During February, we broke ground on our EV manufacturing facility in the state of Tamil Nadu, and by the middle of March, construction was already underway. We take a realistic capital allocation approach with the initial CKD phase of 50,000 EVs per year and would be able to rapidly increase capacity as conditions require. And finally, let's turn to Indonesia. Following our successful debut at the 2024 Indonesia International Motor Show in February, we started opening orders for the VF E34 in Indonesia last month, marking another milestone in our expansion in Southeast Asia. With the introduction of this model at a very competitive price, our aim is to support Indonesian consumers as they embark on the journey towards a sustainable transportation future. Also, the first dealer store was opened in Greater Jakarta, which will start selling the VF5, VFE34. During 2024, we plan to expand our EV distribution network across major cities in Indonesia. With regards to our expanding product lineup, the much-awaited VF3 is under development, well on track for launch locally in Vietnam within 2024, and then overseas from 2025 onwards. VF White, our highly anticipated pickup truck, is at early stage of study, and we plan to share a target launch soon. Other milestones achieved in the first quarter of 2024 include closing our merger with VinEA Energy Solutions. This is an important step in completing VinFast's integrated supply chain and will help to build a competitive advantage for us in the global EV market. We started building our own charging network in Vietnam that is exclusive to VinFast, in addition to working with partners overseas, allowing VinFast access to over 850,000 charge points globally. Our founder recently established an independent charging infrastructure company, VGreen, to focus on developing charging stations. This will aid VinFast's global expansion especially in markets where infrastructure is still at an early stage. VGreen shall act as a partner of VinFast and will provide charging access to VinFast EVs in many markets, which shall translate into reduction in capex for VinFast, helping VinFast stay focused on our EV businesses' growth. Looking ahead, we remain committed to executing our strategic priorities to strengthen and grow our business globally. With regards to our product lineup, our focus during 2024 includes first delivering the new highly expected and very affordable VF3 model in the domestic market. Secondly, delivering the new product VF9, VF7 in North America. And finally, completing our full EV lineup for global market in both left-hand drive and right-hand drive versions, along with the worldwide launch of all models. With regards to our global footprint, we expect to start delivering our EVs in markets with high EV demand growth, including key focus on Indonesia, Thailand, the Philippines, and India this year. Our team in this market are proactively working with dealers to accelerate the readiness of their showrooms. Our distribution partners in other parts of the world also progressing to the next phase of discussion needed to import EVs and commence local sales. In closing, we expect the majority of sales to come in in the second half of the year, with the first half dedicated to setting up the foundation, including production ramp-up, new product launch, and finalizing dealership agreements. With that, I would like to hand over to Lan Anh, our CFO, to present our financial results of the quarter.