Photo: VinFast
Vietnamese electric vehicle (EV) manufacturer VinFast announced plans to cut its U.S. staff on Monday, as the company faces restructuring and a stalled shipment of its first EVs, according to Automotive News.
VinFast is a subsidiary of Vingroup, and the company has been making a push to expand in the U.S. with its first batch of deliveries arriving in the country in the last few months.
VinFast has also said it plans to “streamline” operations in North America, working with third-party companies to help “increase the quality and speed of customer service.”
The automaker has also recently said it has hired roughly 150 people in the U.S. across distribution, support and sales roles.
It’s not clear how many jobs will be cut in the U.S., but managers had recently been told that the company could cut up to 30 percent of staff at its headquarters in Vietnam, according to two people with knowledge of the discussions.
The company’s managers in Vietnam have also been encouraged to prepare lists for founder and chairman Pham Nhat Vuong.
“We review employee’s quality of work frequently and dismiss those who do not meet our requirements,” VinFast said. “We will recruit new replacements.”
The company’s first batch of 999 electric vehicles to the U.S. landed in November and were slated to deliver in December. But these VF8 crossovers have been delayed until late February, as the company claims they are being updated with software updates.
VinFast is also readying to go public on the stock market with an IPO.
VinFast and CATL to Partner for Electric ‘Skateboard’ Chassis Products https://t.co/PMWXFrIjau
— TeslaNorth.com (@RealTeslaNorth) October 31, 2022
