VinFast Auto Ltd.

Joining me today are Chairwoman of the Board, Madam Thuy Le, and our CFO, Ms. Lana Nguyen. Before I turn the call over to Madam Thuy, let me remind you that some of the statements on this call include forward-looking statements under federal securities law. These include, without limitation, statements regarding the future financial and operating outlook, guidance, 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 US Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, management will refer to non-GAAP financials during this call A discussion of why we use non-GAAP and the information regarding the reconciliation of our non-GAAP versus GAAP financials is available in the press release that we issued this morning. With that, I would like to invite Madam Thuy to start with the management remarks.

Thank you, Amanda, and hello, everyone. I appreciate you joining us today. I am pleased with the progress made over the past year. Given that the first quarter is typically the slowest seasonally, it is encouraging to see signs of improved operating leverage driven by economies of scale. Compared to the same period last year, our volume growth and streamlined operational footprint are increasingly reflected in a more efficient cost structure, and subsequently, the narrowing of our profit margins year over year. Today, I'll be sharing updates on three key fronts. One, deliveries performance. Two, the pace of EV adoption and performance in our key markets. And lastly, our future R&D roadmap that we mentioned last quarter. On the deliveries front, I'm pleased to share that Q125 deliveries alone have already exceeded our total for the first half of last year. Achieving this in the typically slowest quarter of the year marks an encouraging start to 2025, especially given ongoing global macroeconomic and trade uncertainties. In Q1 2025, VinFast delivered 36,330 electric vehicles, representing a 296% increase year over year and a 32% decline quarter over quarter. it's important to remember that Q1 is typically our seasonally slowest quarter, primarily due to the extended Lunar New Year holiday in Vietnam. On the two-wheeler front, we delivered 44,904 units, marking a 473% year-over-year increase and a 44% rise quarter-over-quarter. This strong growth was driven by the expansion of our dealer network in Vietnam and a sharpened product focus following the discontinuation of older models in favor of more competitive offerings. Deliveries to related parties, which include GSM, the EV taxi platform owned by our founder, accounted for 21% of Q1 deliveries. With this, our B2C deliveries have consistently accounted for over 70% of total sales for three consecutive quarters through Q125. As GSM expands in Indonesia and the Philippines, we anticipate continued vehicle deliveries to support their fleet growth. Charging infrastructure remains the biggest barrier to EV adoption. Our charging partner, VGreen, is actively addressing this challenge by working with local businesses to roll out exclusive charging networks for VinFast customers. GSM and VGreen together has normalized EV usage in Vietnam, and we believe their international expansion as part of our ecosystem approach will help drive a similar trajectory of consumer adoption in other markets. Let me now walk you through the pace in EV adoption and performance in our current markets. Across our key markets, EV adoption continues to gain traction at different speeds, supported by varying degrees of regulatory incentives and a broader range of product offerings for consumers. In Southeast Asia, unlike Vietnam, where VinFast has driven EV penetration to nearly 40% in Q1, battery EV or BEV adoption is still nascent in other regional markets, In Indonesia, according to Gaikindo data, BEVs made up 7% of total auto sales in Q1, up from 3% a year ago. In the Philippines, data from CAMPI showed that BEVs accounted for only 3% of total auto sales. For VinFast in Indonesia, we've made meaningful progress in establishing a strong foundation for long-term growth in the first quarter of the year. We launched the VF3 for sale in February and began deliveries in March. In a market where consumers are spoiled for choice, our industry-leading offering, including one year of free charging, has started to differentiate VinFast. Today, we have four models available in Indonesia, with the VF7 and Green Series expected to launch soon, further broadening our portfolio. We are rapidly scaling our retail and service footprint. To support this growth, we have announced a strategic partnership with a respected distributor with a proven track record representing legacy automotive brands. Their alignment with a new entrant like Vinfast underscores the long-term confidence in our value proposition for Indonesian consumers. Our green mobility ecosystem is taking shape with GSM expanding into additional major cities. GSM is already operating a fleet of 3,000 EVs in Greater Jakarta, accelerating consumer familiarity with our EVs. In parallel, vGreen Indonesia, our exclusive charging network operator, has deployed over 2,000 charging locations across 36 provinces out of 38 provinces in the country, with approximately 16% already operational. vGreen provides reliable infrastructure to support our growing customer base. Next, the Philippines. Similar to our foundational work in Indonesia, we have announced partnerships to establish service workshops and dealerships. Our partners, VGreen and GSM, will play a key role. VGreen is setting up a dedicated EV charging network to support early adopters, while GSM will soon be launched in the Philippines. Our MOU with Goodyear Philippines includes a working relationship to open 50 authorized VINFAST service workshops and an agreement with six established distributors announced at the Manila International Auto Show to open over 60 new showrooms in the Philippines this year. Coming back to Vietnam, our core market. According to data from the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers Association and other industry groups in the region, Vietnam led Southeast Asia in automotive sales growth with a 24% year-over-year increase, outpacing larger regional markets. This performance was underpinned by strong macro fundamentals. GDP growth accelerated to 6.9% in Q1, the highest since 2020. Based on Vietnam registration data, VinFast market share of overall auto sales increased to nearly 40% in Q1 2025 from approximately 20% last year. This remarkable increase reflects the strong brand recognition we enjoy, which is further amplified by the entrenchment of our green mobility ecosystem. The launch of the Green Series opens a new market segment for VinFast to maintain our industry leadership in our home market. In Vietnam, VinFast continued to be the proxy for EV penetration and led the auto market during Q1 2025 with over 35,100 vehicles delivered, equivalent to the next three players combined. Two of our top-selling models, the VF3 and 5, were also best-selling passenger vehicle models in Vietnam during Q125 and accounted for 68% of VinFast total domestic deliveries. This was followed by the VF6, which has become the new popular mass premium car in Vietnam. It accounted for 12% of VinFast total domestic deliveries. At around $26,000, VF6 offers a modern design with comfortable cabin and standout features that are rare to find in the B-SUV segment, such as voice control, multi-link rear suspension, and adaptive cruise control. VF6 owners agree this model delivers a segment-up experience at a B-SUV price. During the quarter, we began taking pre-orders for the Green Series, a dedicated lineup tailored for transportation use cases. Since its introduction in late 2024, the four model EV series have attracted elevated interest from local taxi fleet operators who were starting their journey to electrification. More recently, we commenced our first deliveries of the Hario Green and Nario Green in April. We are also broadening our product lineup into commercial vehicles with the introduction of an electric school bus and an electric minivan model in May. Outside of Vietnam, we are exploring opportunities in Asia and Europe with plans to offer electric buses in 6, 8, 10 and 12 meter sizes. Moving on to India, we are pleased to announce the opening of our CKD factory in Tamil Nadu in July. We will soon announce our dealer partners and ahead of the sales opening for VF6 and VF7, we plan to launch extensive marketing campaigns in Delhi and Mumbai to build brand awareness. With India's EV market still in its early stage and significant white space across segments, we see a compelling opportunity to deliver premium value and accessible innovation to Indian consumers. In Europe and North America, As part of our ongoing strategic initiative to optimize our footprint, VinFast will close its direct-to-consumer showrooms in Germany and the Netherlands in June and start replacing them with new dealers' showrooms. This is a long-term strategy that VinFast initiated to transition from purely direct-to-consumer to a more dealer-led distribution model. Our transfer of all showrooms in Vietnam last year to our dealer partners was a prime example. To ensure seamless services to our customers, we have recently signed dealership agreements with dealers in France and Germany. In the Netherlands, we announced partnerships with LKQ and DHL to deliver high quality after sales experience, including the delivery of spare parts within a day. Our commitment to fostering electric mobility in Europe remains unchanged, and the shift in our distribution model is set to improve our operational efficiency to address growing customer demands. Looking over to Canada, we are closing three short-term shopping center stores and two showrooms in outlying areas to refocus our resources to the best-performing showrooms. As of April 30, 2025, We had 388 showrooms globally, of which over 90% were dealer stores. Finally, I'd like to share some of the exciting innovations underway at VinFast as we develop our next generation of electric vehicles. As a young and dynamic EV manufacturer, we remain committed to delivering higher quality, better performing vehicles while keeping them accessible to a broad range of consumers. Our new platform and EE architecture will enable further bill of material cost optimization, driving efficiency across every aspect of the business. Our first generation vehicle platforms prioritize speed and market readiness, allowing us to bring seven models to market in under three years, effectively establishing VinFast as the EV brand for every customer's needs. Looking ahead, our next-generation vehicle architecture is guided by the principles of the three Cs, competitiveness, commonality, and cost efficiencies. This strategic evolution underscores our sharpened focus on operational efficiency and scalability as we steer the company toward long-term profitability. Our new vehicle platforms will be designed to simplify the engineering process while integrating world-class technologies and supporting a wide range of product offerings. Each platform will underpin multiple models, significantly increasing component commonality. This approach enables more streamlined procurement and manufacturing processes, ultimately driving cost reductions through economies of scale and improved operational synergy. In parallel, VinFast's EE architecture is undergoing a major transition to its second phase of development, which introduces zonal architecture controlled by a centralized supercomputer. This reduces ECU complexity and minimizes the use of traditional wire harnesses, further contributing to bill of materials cost optimization and production efficiency. More importantly, this transition will also enhance customer experience. I'm pleased to share that the first model to debut with a next-generation platform and zonal EE architecture will be the new MPV model LimoGreen, going to market in Q3 this year. Various existing models will also undergo a technology refresh beginning in 2026 as we continue to elevate our product offering and deliver a smart, software-defined vehicle. I will now hand it over to our CFO to discuss the financial results

Thank you, Madam T. Good morning, everyone. I'm pleased to walk you through our financial results for the first quarter of 2025. Our business is now at an inflection point, where we expect economies of scale to drive greater operating leverage going forward. We've made meaningful progress in optimizing our cost base, both in terms of cost of goods sold and operating expenses. As we continue to grow our top line while streamlining our operational footprint, we remain focused on identifying additional cost-saving opportunities. As Madam Thuy noted, our new vehicle platforms and our new general EE architecture will serve as a foundation for longer-term cost savings. These changes not only reduce complexity and component redundancy, but also enable us to secure more favorable supply contracts supported by our growth scale. Our bill of material optimization program is ongoing, and we expect to see a more material impact once the new platforms are fully commercialized over the next 18 months. Now, let me walk you through our results in more detail. Net revenue for Q1 2025 was $657 million, an increase of 150% year-over-year, and largely in line with Q4 2024. Cost of goods sold for the quarter was $888 million, an increase of 113% year-over-year. and down 25% quarter-over-quarter, reflecting the continued ramp-up in deliveries. Cost of goods sold as a percentage of revenue was 135% for the quarter, compared to 179% in Q4 and 159% from the year prior. Q1 2025 Gross Margin was minus 35%, a notable improvement from minus 59% in the same period last year, driven by increased scale and ongoing cost optimization efforts. Excluding the impact of NRV and one-off items, gross margin was minus 28% compared to minus 57% during the same period last year. Moving on to operating expenses. SG&A expenses for the quarter totaled $161 million, representing a 23% increase year-over-year, but a 43% decline quarter-over-quarter. As a percentage of revenue, SG&A was 23%, significantly improving from 47% in the same period last year. This reduction reflects our ongoing shift from a direct-to-customer model to a dealer-based model, a transition that began in late 2023 and is helping streamline our cost structure. We recorded a US$20 million impairment charge this quarter, of which The majority was impairment charge related to the closure of existing D2C showrooms in California. We expect to incur additional impairment charges in the coming quarters as the transition progresses in the other markets. R&D expenses came in at $81 million, down 22% year-over-year and 25% quarter-over-quarter. As a percentage of revenue, R&D was 12% compared to the 40% in the same quarter last year. While we saw a decline this quarter, we anticipate higher R&D spending in the coming periods as we invest in the development of our next generation's platforms and technologies. EBITDA for the first quarter of 2025 was minored $396 million, with an EBITDA margin of minus 60%. This represents a significant improvement from minus 130% in the same period last year, reflecting early benefits from increased scale. Net loss for the quarter was minus $712 million, with a net loss margin of minus 109% compared to minus 226% in the first quarter of 2024, again, highlighting the benefits of scale. These improvements underscore the progress we're making as we scale our operations and continue executing on our path towards profitability. Now, turning to CapEx and cash flow. CapEx for the quarter was $147 million, down 24% year-over-year and 40% quarter-over-quarter. We anticipate higher spending in the coming quarters as we enter the final phases of construction for our new CKD facilities in Vietnam, India, and Indonesia. Operating cash flow for the quarter was minus $607 million. compared to the minus $500 million in the Q1 2024, largely due to the changes in the net working capital. In terms of cash flow efficiency, our cash burn in Q1 2025 was equivalent to 115% of revenue, a significant improvement from 256% in the same period last year. This reflects stronger cash flow management as well as the initial benefits of scale. This improvement in the quality of cash flow mirrors the operating leverage we are starting to realize as we scale our operations and optimize costs. We expect to continue investing in R&D and CapEx for the remainder of the year and to drive innovation and enhance the customer experience. These investments will be balanced by continuous discipline in execution and cost optimization and our profitability target remains unchanged. Finally, an update on our liquidity. As of 31st of May this year, Vingroup has disbursed 1.2 billion US dollars in loans and our founder disbursed $825 million in grants to VinFast. Besides cash and cash equivalent, our liquidity stands at around $2.4 billion, including $968 million e-lock facility and the remaining $1.4 billion from Vingroup loan and our founder grant. Operator Let's open for Q&A.