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VinFast Auto Ltd. (VFS) Q4 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

41 segments

Prepared remarks

OperatorOperator

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the VinFast Q4 2025 Financial Results and Q&A. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Amandae Baey, Head of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Amandae BaeyHead of Investor Relations

Thank you, operator, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to VinFast quarterly earnings call. Joining me today are Chairwoman of the Board, Madam Thuy Le; Deputy CEO of Investments, Ms. Anne Pham; and our CFO, Ms. Lan Anh Nguyen. Before we begin this call, please note today's call will include forward-looking statements under U.S. federal securities law. These statements reflect our current views on future events, financial operational performance and other matters that involve risks and uncertainties. These may cause actual results to differ materially. Please refer to our most recent filings with the SEC for a discussion of these risk factors. We will also reference certain non-GAAP financial measures and a reconciliation of these measures to GAAP figures, along with an explanation which are included in our presentation issued earlier today. With that, I would like to invite Madam Thuy to begin the management remarks.

Thuy Thi LeChairwoman of the Board

Hello, everyone. It's great to be with you again. 2025 was another landmark year for VinFast. But more importantly, it was a year of disciplined investment behind our core mission, making electric mobility accessible to everyone. Fourth quarter of 2025 was our strongest quarter to date across several key financial metrics. Every strategic decision we make, including investing in technology, industrial capabilities and global expansion, is anchored to that objective. Let me briefly reflect on our evolution. From 2017 to 2023, we established our brand and industrial foundation with a firm belief that electrification is the future of mobility. In 2024, we earned the trust of customers in our home market, Vietnam, and became the number one mobility brand in the country by vehicle sales, a position that we continue to maintain to date. So during 2025, we rolled out a comprehensive product portfolio to serve diverse mobility use cases, laid the foundation for a green mobility ecosystem in international markets and shared plans about our next generation of vehicles that are built on a new platform and new EE architecture. Across the industry, there is a clear shift as electric mobility companies move towards AI-driven software-defined vehicles. VinFast has been working on this since day one with our R&D philosophy centered around a vertically integrated software-defined EV platform. With over 400,000 cumulative cars delivered and more than four years of real-world driving data accumulated, our engineers are able to design ADAS and software road maps with the customers in mind. For 2026, our strategic investment is focused on scale and unit cost optimization, which are the primary levers in our path to profitability. This will be supported by overseas capacity expansion, the commercialization of the next-gen vehicles and the integration of more AI across our vehicles and factories to deliver smart cars and more efficient production. With that, I would like to frame the three key points that you should take away from this call. First, VinFast is more than just an EV manufacturer. We are a vertically integrated software-defined EV platform with smart manufacturing to deliver scalable electric mobility solutions. Second, we are expanding our capacity to enter international markets in the coming years. We are deliberate in making this investment now as it provides us with flexibility to enter new markets quickly. And finally, scale matters at VinFast. With scale comes further operational efficiencies. We delivered 196,919 EVs for the full year. This exceeded our guidance to at least double the number of EVs delivered in 2024. In Q4 alone, we delivered 86,557 EVs. That was a new quarterly record for the company. Our two-wheeler segment also reached a new high. Full year deliveries grew 5.7x to 406,496 units. Looking ahead, our 2026 guidance is targeting at least 300,000 EV deliveries. This is supported by introducing new models in our international markets, the build-out of our dealer network across Asia, Europe and North America and, lastly, the continued expansion in international markets. Following the strong momentum of VinFast e-scooter segment achieved in 2025, we expect two-wheeler deliveries to be at least 2.5x last year's volume for 2026. This growth will be driven by VinFast e-scooter expansion into Asian markets, the rollout of V-Green battery swapping network for e-scooters and our focused positioning in the largest product segment. Turning to our new markets and manufacturing operations. Starting in Vietnam, while VinFast has maintained the number one OEM position and taken market share from other OEMs, we ended 2025 with an estimated 36% market share compared to 22% in 2024. VF-3 and VF-5 accounted for 51% of domestic volumes. We are also pleased to see the increased contribution from VF-6 and Limo Green. On the two-wheeler segment, we ended the year as the number one electric scooter player in Vietnam. For the first time since we started selling internationally, overseas markets accounted for 18% of our fourth quarter deliveries. For the full year 2025, international markets contributed 11% of our deliveries. Our disciplined approach to overseas expansion is also reflected in our ranking. In particular, in India, we made steady progress in Vahan registration amongst BEV brands, ranking number eight in October, number seven in November and number four in December. We have maintained our position since then to date. In Indonesia, we ended 2025 as the number three BEV brand according to Gaikindo and as the number two BEV brand in the Philippines according to CAMPI. Product expansion has further broadened VinFast's market reach. We introduced Green, our commercial-focused product line, and Lac Hong, our ultra-luxury brand. VinFast now has three distinct brands catering to different customer segments. In the fourth quarter, our commercial line, Green, saw strong traction from fleet and B2B customers and accounted for nearly half of total deliveries. In 2025, approximately 27% of our deliveries were to related parties, primarily the EV ride-hailing platform GSM, broadly stable year-over-year with a higher share of approximately 33% in the fourth quarter as GSM rapidly scaled its fleet network in Indonesia and the Philippines as part of its Southeast Asia expansion. Manufacturing utilization and operational efficiency continue to improve with the Hai Phong plant rolling out its 200,000th vehicle of the year and producing nearly 26,000 EVs in December alone. Last year, we inaugurated our manufacturing facility in Ha Tinh, Vietnam. Our first overseas manufacturing facility was opened in Tamil Nadu, India in August. And in December, we opened our second factory overseas in Subang, Indonesia. Now turning to our priorities for 2026. Let's start with manufacturing. VinFast today operates four manufacturing facilities globally with combined annual capacity of 600,000 EVs and 500,000 e-scooters. Looking ahead, we will continue to strengthen this foundation by expanding production capacity for EVs and e-scooters in Vietnam while evaluating further development phases in India and Indonesia to position these facilities as future export hubs. We also expect to resume construction of our North Carolina factory in 2026 with a plan to SOP in 2028. We will provide further details in the coming months. It is important to note that VinFast has embedded smart manufacturing processes across all our facilities to enable scalable electric mobility solutions, and we'll provide further updates on this area shortly. On the product front, VinFast has completed the strategic launch of its EV portfolio under three distinct brands, each with a clear market focus and identity. The VinFast brand comprising VinFast core passenger EV lineup from VF-3 to VF-9. The Green brand of commercial EVs for fleet use, including Limo, Herio, Nerio and Minio Green. And lastly, the ultra-luxury Lac Hong series. As part of this repositioning, we are introducing two seven-seater MPV models, the Limo Green and the VF MPV 7, to address different customer segments with plans to launch both across key Asian markets. Additionally, the next generation of VF-6 and VF-7 is expected to SOP in the second half of 2026. These four models are designed to deliver a lower BOM cost by reducing complexity and number of components through our new platform and next-generation EV architecture. I'm also pleased to share that VinFast is developing several range extender EV models, beginning with VF-8 REEV. Introducing range extender vehicles allows us to address a broader segment of the electrification market. We view range extender technology as a practical interim step in the transition from internal combustion engines to fully battery electric vehicles, particularly in markets where charging infrastructure is still developing. We will provide additional updates on this program in the coming quarters. In our core Asian markets, we will continue expanding our dealer network to support long-term growth. We plan to double our dealer footprint in India and partner with large dealership groups in Indonesia and the Philippines. This expansion will move in parallel with GSM international growth as we continue building out the broader green mobility ecosystem. At the same time, we are expanding our two-wheeler strategy across Asia with plans to introduce our e-scooter business in five markets, including Thailand, Malaysia and the other three existing Asian markets, while GSM is also exploring opportunities to enter the U.S. and European markets. For Europe, we plan to introduce the next generation of B-SUV, the VF-6 model. For North America markets, we plan to bring the VF-7, a C-segment electric SUV, and to also launch our e-bus business later this year. Now I will turn it over to Anne, who will take you through the latest on VinFast technology platform.

Thu Nguyen PhamDeputy CEO of Investments

Thank you, Madam Thuy. VinFast is more than an EV manufacturer. Our mission is to make electric mobility accessible to everyone, which directly shapes how we allocate capital and make strategic investments. We are deliberately investing in owning more of our technology stack so that we can deliver more compelling features at a lower cost over time. At Mobility Day last November, we shared our autonomy road map for Level 2+ and Level 2++ towards Level 4 with a demonstration of a self-driving robot car in partnership with Autobrains Technologies at Vinhomes Ocean Park, a project in Vietnam. A leading AI mobility company based in Israel, Autobrains has been working with us for a number of years. VinFast has taken a capital-efficient approach with an in-house ADAS research institute while working with strategic technology partners for Level 4. We also plan to expand our trials of Robo-Car to larger cities and international markets. We are also pleased to share that we've entered into a collaboration with Tensor, a pioneering AI company developing personally owned Level 4 autonomous robo cars based in California. Under this partnership, VinFast will serve as the manufacturing and industrialization partner for Tensor's Robo-Car program. Fully functional prototypes of the program have already been tested by Tensor across multiple regions, and the program is currently in the preproduction phase and is being advanced towards commercialization. This collaboration is compelling for both a commercial and financial standpoint while reinforcing VinFast's strategic role in the next generation of mobility solutions. In parallel, we are also in active discussions with a number of technology and mobility companies exploring robotaxi development. We look forward to sharing further updates as these discussions progress in the coming quarters. Internally, we continue to make steady progress in owning more of our core technology stack and expanding our in-house software capabilities. Earlier this year, we introduced a suite of subscription packages in Vietnam that include proprietary remote control functions and smart features developed internally at VinFast and across the broader Vingroup ecosystem. At the same time, we are advancing our transition to EE 2.0 as part of a structural cost initiative this year. This shift is expected to drive meaningful reductions in our BOM cost structure through ECU consolidation, simplified wiring harness design and greater component commonality across models. Our new EE 2.0 demonstrates how our in-house software capabilities are doing more than enhancing the next generation of VinFast vehicles. We're beginning to see interest from external parties in this technology as a stand-alone solution, which provides early validation of our R&D capabilities and could represent a potential new revenue stream over the longer term. In the near term, we plan to expand these subscription offerings to additional markets alongside the rollout of localized voice assistance strategies across key Asian markets. We look forward to sharing more details as these initiatives continue to develop. Finally, turning to manufacturing. As Madam Thuy shared earlier, VinFast has embedded smart manufacturing processes across all of its facilities. This is a key pillar of our vertically integrated software-defined EV platform and central to our long-term profitability. Within the Vingroup ecosystem, VinFast works very closely with a sister company called VinRobotics to accelerate the development of advanced robotics and intelligent automation across its operations. VinRobotics focuses on two core segments: industrial humanoid robots developed in-house and a scalable non-humanoid physical AI platform that combines robotics hardware with intelligent software. By integrating VinRobotics proprietary mechanical systems, intelligent controls and AI-driven computer vision into VinFast manufacturing operations, the partnership aims to enhance productivity, improve quality and reduce operating costs while advancing the broader goal of building the smart factory of the future. VinFast also expects to be the manufacturing partner to VinRobotics, along with two other robotics companies within the Vingroup ecosystem, namely VinMotion and VinDynamics. Now taking a step back, I'd like to highlight the in-house R&D capabilities at VinFast and the broader Vingroup technology ecosystem that supports VinFast's long-term innovation road map. At the core of these efforts are our in-house ADAS and battery research institutes, which are focused on developing next-generation technologies that will be integrated into future VinFast vehicles. Within the Vingroup ecosystem, a number of specialized technology companies are developing capabilities that can be leveraged across multiple businesses. What initially began with VinFast at the center of a green mobility ecosystem, spanning EVs, charging infrastructure through V-Green and electric mobility services through GSM, is now evolving into a broader platform of advanced technologies. Across this ecosystem, teams are developing core capabilities ranging from software platforms and cybersecurity to robotics and automation. A notable example is our collaboration with VinRobotics, which I have highlighted earlier. As Vingroup continues to incubate new technology platforms, VinFast expects to deepen collaboration across the ecosystem and provide further updates on these initiatives in the coming quarters. Now I'll hand it over to Lan Anh to discuss our financial results for the fourth quarter and full year of 2025.

Anh Thi NguyenChief Financial Officer

Thank you, Anne. Our 2025 results reflect a focus on accelerating revenue growth while improving operating efficiency over time. By exceeding our 2025 guidance and operating at roughly two-thirds of our flagship factory's capacity during December, we have demonstrated our ability to scale in a disciplined manner. At the same time, the sales policies and promotional initiatives introduced to sharpen brand awareness in our key markets are starting to gain traction. Concurrently, our ongoing cost optimization programs are beginning to deliver tangible results, and we are seeing early signs of operating leverage emerge in the business. Fourth quarter of 2025 reflected the strongest financial performance we have delivered to date with several key metrics reaching new levels as we begin to see early benefits of scale. As Madam Thuy and Anne highlighted, strengthening VinFast's competitiveness requires deliberate strategic investments that are essential to improving efficiency, enhancing cost control and positioning the company for a more sustainable margin profile over the long term. Now let me walk you through our results in more detail. Revenue for the fourth quarter of 2025 was USD 1.6 billion, up by 118% quarter-over-quarter and 139% year-over-year. Full year revenue was USD 3.6 billion, increased by 105% year-over-year. Gross margin was negative 40% in Q4 2025 compared to negative 79% in Q4 2024. For the full year, gross margin improved to negative 43% compared to negative 57% in 2024, with full year revenue increased by 105% and fourth quarter revenue up 139% year-over-year. Higher production volumes allowed us to better absorb fixed manufacturing overhead and improve operating leverage. Recall that in fiscal year 2024, revenue was impacted by a one-time adjustment related to our free charging program. We applied the program retrospectively to all vehicles delivered through 31st of December 2024, which resulted in revenue reduction recorded in that quarter. If we exclude the impact mostly due to the free charging program, vehicles sold for which revenue has been deferred and NRV adjustment, we are seeing a clearer view of the underlying improvement in our operating performance. Excluding these items, gross margin for Q4 2025 would have been negative 28% compared to negative 26% in Q4 2024. On a full year basis, gross margin would have been negative 24% as compared to negative 32% in 2024. Moving to the operating expenses. R&D expenses were USD 114 million, increasing 7% quarter-over-quarter and 7% year-over-year. R&D spending in the quarter was primarily driven by continued investment in our next-generation vehicle platforms and core technology stack, particularly in ADAS L2+ development and our EE 2.0 architecture as well as ongoing model refreshing programs across vehicles. R&D as a percentage of revenue was 7%, the lowest in the past five quarters, reflecting the benefits of scale. As revenue growth outpaced R&D spend, fixed R&D investment were leveraged more efficiently across larger volumes, improving operating leverage while we continue to advance our core technology road map. SG&A expenses were USD 391 million, increasing 126% quarter-over-quarter and 50% year-over-year. The sequential increase was primarily driven by higher marketing expenses associated with the launch of new models across multiple markets. During the quarter, we also booked approximately USD 236 million impairment for our North Carolina factory. This impairment charge is a one-off expense and reflects management's decision to take a disciplined approach to accounting adjustment associated with changes in project timing and development assumptions. It does not represent a change in our long-term strategic commitment to the U.S. market. And as Madam Thuy mentioned earlier, we expect to resume construction in the North Carolina factory this year. Excluding this one-off impairment charge, SG&A expenses as a percentage of revenue would have been 10% compared to 24% in Q3 2025 and 40% in the fourth quarter of 2024. This improvement reflects the benefits of scale and the cost optimization achieved through our transition to a dealer model. Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter was negative USD 1 billion, a 20% decline year-over-year. Adjusted EBITDA margin came in at negative 65% compared to negative 80% in Q3 2025 and negative 129% in the prior year period. Adjusted EBITDA for fiscal year 2025 came in at negative 66% compared to negative 103% in fiscal year 2024. Excluding the impact mostly due to delayed revenue recognition, impairment charge relating to the U.S. factory and adjusting for NRV, adjusted EBITDA margin would have been negative 37% in Q4 2025 compared to negative 36% in Q3 2025 and negative 52% in the same period last year. Net loss for the quarter was negative USD 1.4 billion. Net loss margin for the quarter improved to negative 89% compared to negative 186% a year ago, an improvement of 96 percentage points year-over-year. Fiscal year 2025 net loss margin is negative 108% compared to negative 176% in fiscal year 2024, an improvement of 68 percentage points year-over-year. Excluding the impact mostly due to delay in revenue recognition, impairment charges which mostly related to changes in project timing of U.S. factory and adjusting for NRV, net loss margin would have been negative 62% in Q4 2025 compared to negative 84% in Q3 2025 and negative 94% in the same period last year. Finally, EPS for fourth quarter of 2025 was negative USD 0.6, a decline of 15% year-over-year from fourth quarter of 2024. Full year 2025 EPS was negative USD 1.65 compared to full year 2024 EPS of negative USD 1.32. Excluding similar items, EPS for the fourth quarter of 2025 would have been positive USD 0.41 and full year 2025, it would have been positive USD 1.25, a decline of 15% year-over-year. CapEx for the quarter was USD 304 million, an increase of 16% quarter-over-quarter and 25% year-over-year, driven by CapEx across our new overseas factories and expansion at our Vietnam facilities. Total CapEx for 2025 was USD 922 million. Finally, an update on our liquidity and previously announced grant and borrowings commitment in late 2024. As of the 31st of December 2025, VinFast's outstanding borrowings from Vingroup under this commitment was USD 413 million. The company received a total USD 1.1 billion disbursement from our founder pursuant to the grant agreement. Our total liquidity as of 31st of December 2025 is USD 3.1 billion, which reflects cash funding commitment from Vingroup and our founder and an ELOC facility. Turning to our 2026 outlook. As Madam Thuy noted earlier, scale will be the key driver of operational efficiency. This will be supported by our priorities of expanding manufacturing capacity, strengthening product competitiveness and accelerating international expansion. We expect revenue growth in 2026 to be driven by a combination of higher volumes, modest improvement of ASP and product mix evolution across markets. Operator, let's open for Q&A.

OperatorOperator

We will now open the line for questions.

Amandae BaeyHead of Investor Relations

Operator, while we get the live questions, let's move on to the WebEx questions. We've got a few of them.

OperatorOperator

Please go ahead.

Amandae BaeyHead of Investor Relations

The first question we have is from Jesse actually. There have been rumors you'll be interested in launching a hybrid vehicle. Can you confirm this is something you're interested in pursuing? And if so, how could it impact your future financial results? And would you like to take this question?

Thu Nguyen PhamDeputy CEO of Investments

Certainly. Well, VF-8 REEV was planned for launch in Vietnam starting 2027 with overseas rollout expected over time. The development basically leverages our existing BEV platforms and incremental R&D requirements will be fairly manageable. We also expect limited impact on broader R&D priorities for the next couple of years as we have very well planned out our R&D road map, our ADAS as well as our EE architecture. REEV for us is viewed as a practical interim solution to expand EV accessibility and address a broader market segment as opposed to a material shift. Thank you.

Amandae BaeyHead of Investor Relations

Thank you. The next question is from Chang Ho of HSC. Congratulations on the quarter's results. Could you please elaborate on the drivers behind the narrowing of the gross profit loss and whether these improvements are sustainable in the coming quarters? Additionally, could you share the recent results or achievements in your key export markets and the company's plans for these markets going forward? Lan Anh, would you like to take this?

Anh Thi NguyenChief Financial Officer

Okay. So for the narrowing of the gross profit loss, the improvement is mainly driven by BOM optimization and production scale, supplier pricing, localization and engineering optimization. And we believe these drivers are sustainable. The largest reduction in BOM cost, VF-6 around 13% and VF-7 around 23% in BOM cost reduction. In 2026, we expect further improvements across multiple models with around 20% up to maybe 30% cost reduction, supported by our transition to next-generation vehicle platforms in the following years. So we also expect more moderate around 5% annual BOM optimization. For the part of the international markets, we also saw a very strong ramp-up in deliveries in Indonesia, the Philippines and India in Q4 2025, with international deliveries accounting for about 17% of total deliveries. And for India, we also have India positioned as a strategic long-term growth market. For the other markets like Indonesia and the Philippines, we also leverage GSM for brand awareness from both the consumer perspective. So we expect that we can boost our overseas sales in 2026 as well.

Amandae BaeyHead of Investor Relations

Thank you, Lan Anh. The next question we have is a macro question. Madam Thuy will take this. With oil prices trending higher, do you expect that to influence EV adoption dynamics? And separately, could you comment on the current macro environment and how that could potentially affect VinFast's operating outlook?

Thuy Thi LeChairwoman of the Board

Thank you, Amandae. Well, we saw the impact of higher oil prices where people started switching to EVs and even for ride-hailing taxi, we started seeing people choosing consciously our GSM platform over the normal taxi. Higher oil prices reinforce the long-term EV value proposition as consumers focus more on total cost of ownership. So fuel prices may influence short-term sentiment, but structural EV adoption drivers remain affordability, product availability and charging infrastructure, which are everything that we're working toward. Our strategy is focused on improving cost competitiveness and expanding the product lineup to broaden EV accessibility. We monitor macro developments closely, and at this stage there is no material impact on operating outlook. Our expansion focuses on markets where EV adoption remains early with strong long-term growth potential. Priority remains scaling production, improving cost efficiency and executing the product road map. Industry commentary suggests about four dollars per gallon gasoline could accelerate mass EV adoption. In some U.S. states, we're already exceeding that level as well.

Amandae BaeyHead of Investor Relations

Thank you, Madam Thuy. The next WebEx question is regarding our North Carolina factory. It's good to hear an update about the North Carolina factory. Could you elaborate on your decision to proceed with a U.S. manufacturing presence when EV demand is expected to be slower? And could you also share some more color on the impairment charge that you took?

Thuy Thi LeChairwoman of the Board

So over the last years we've been saying that we are committed to the U.S. market, and the U.S. is an important market to us, and we still commit to that. The U.S. remains an important strategic market for us. A U.S. manufacturing base provides flexibility as market conditions and regulations evolve. North Carolina factory construction is expected to resume this year. We have been working in the background towards that and the SOP is targeted for 2028. Out of prudence, we recorded a USD 236 million impairment in Q4 2025. This was a one-off charge reflecting the revised project timing. However, we expect that we will reverse this impairment in the future as the factory construction will start again. Again, there's no change to long-term commitment to the U.S. market.

Amandae BaeyHead of Investor Relations

Thank you, Madam Thuy. The next question is regarding our ADAS strategy. How much of the cost reduction will come from simplifying the hardware stack or tailoring features to different markets? Anne, would you like to take that question?

Thu Nguyen PhamDeputy CEO of Investments

Thanks, Amandae. First of all, the next-generation ADAS stack will launch with refreshes in the VF-6 and VF-7. SOP starts from the second half of 2026 onwards. So it will be a combination of both simplifying the hardware stack as well as tailoring features to different markets that will really be the anchors of our strategy. The new architecture will use more integrated computing and a simplified hardware stack. At the same time, we're increasing the component of in-house development in order to reduce reliance on third parties and be able to tailor the features to different markets. Both of these features will help us lower the cost. I hope that answers the question.

Amandae BaeyHead of Investor Relations

Thank you, Anne. The next question is regarding the company's CapEx plans. Can you please share what the company's CapEx plans are for 2026? Lan Anh, would you like to take this?

Anh Thi NguyenChief Financial Officer

Yes. In 2026, most of our CapEx is still going into building out the core manufacturing footprint: roughly USD 400 million for domestic and around USD 600 million for international factories, and then additional CapEx for machinery and equipment. In 2026 and 2027, our CapEx needs are a continuation of our intention to scale our manufacturing globally as we position the overseas factory as export hubs. We expect to incur CapEx for Phase 2 of Indonesia and India factories, and CapEx for Phase 1 of the U.S. factory, as Madam Thuy just mentioned. This also accounts for future business plans to introduce e-scooters and e-buses in those markets.

Amandae BaeyHead of Investor Relations

Thank you, Lan Anh. The next question is regarding the VF-7. Can you walk us through the VF-7's current status for North America, specifically where it stands in the regulatory approval process, expected timeline for deliveries and whether production will come out of the India or Vietnam facility? And separately, any update on dealership and service center expansion in the region? Madam Thuy, please?

Thuy Thi LeChairwoman of the Board

So we are preparing to bring the VF-7 to the U.S. before the end of the year. I think we're pretty much done with all the regulatory approval processes, homologations and all the approvals. The target is to start the production by the end of next month with the plan to bring the VF-7 soon after. This is a midsized crossover SUV in that segment. We focus on the customer experience, the feature competitiveness and ownership value rather than other attributes. This will be a very good addition to the market and will help elevate the VF-8 as we bring more VF-8 to the market. Regarding the dealership network and the service center, until we have the factory open in 2028, we will take a very disciplined approach to expanding our dealership network. This year, we're looking to add about two more dealers in California, where EVs sell the most, and we will maintain the existing dealership network. Our focus is to make sure that the dealers will be profitable and retain dealers that are willing to invest in the brand and continue to stay with us for the long run. In terms of repair and service shops, our strategy is to expand the third-party service network. Last year, in California alone, we added about 55 service shops. This year, we're adding a few more, but what is more important is to improve the quality of the service network and gradually improve the quality of those service networks rather than focusing on quantity.

Amandae BaeyHead of Investor Relations

Thank you, Madam Thuy. Operator, can we check for live questions?

Questions and answers

OperatorOperator

We will take our next question. Your question comes from the line of Jim McIlree from Chardan.

James McIlreeAnalyst, Chardan

Yes. You've talked about the gross margin improvements and the BOM cost improvements that you're looking for this year. When do you think that you can achieve a positive gross margin? Is that something that could happen at the end of this year? Or is that something that's more likely to occur in 2027?

Amandae BaeyHead of Investor Relations

Thank you for the question. Lan Anh, over to you.

Anh Thi NguyenChief Financial Officer

Yes. So for profitability, similar to many scaling EV manufacturers, we focus on the execution milestones that drive margin improvement. For VinFast, we have two primary levers. The first is higher deliveries to spread fixed cost — manufacturing, R&D and SG&A — improving operating leverage. The second is BOM cost reductions: the next-generation platforms are designed with an optimized architecture. The next-generation vehicle is also expected to deliver around 30% to 40% lower BOM cost versus earlier models. As these models scale in production and as we expand production, unit economics are expected to improve meaningfully. In addition, platform transition, volume ramp and continued cost discipline are expected to make the path to profitability increasingly visible over the medium term. A lot of actions need to be taken across both Vietnam and overseas. We expect the path to profitability to be increasingly visible over the medium term.

Amandae BaeyHead of Investor Relations

Operator, are there any more live questions? Or Jim, do you have a follow-up question?

James McIlreeAnalyst, Chardan

Yes. I was curious if you could share with us what your expected cash usage will be this year?

Anh Thi NguyenChief Financial Officer

Yes. For CapEx this year, we expect around USD 1.6 billion, and that includes CapEx for Phase 1 of U.S. factory and continued investments in overseas facilities and domestic expansion. For R&D related to the next-generation models, we expect to spend around USD 1.4 billion. These numbers reflect our plan to scale manufacturing globally and to develop our next-generation vehicle platforms.

OperatorOperator

There seems to be no further questions at the moment. We do have another question in the queue. Your question comes from the line of Jesse Sobelson from BTIG. There is no response, and we have no further questions in the queue.

Amandae BaeyHead of Investor Relations

Thanks, operator. Actually, Jesse had sent in his question on the WebEx. So I'm going to read it out. This is regarding our guidance of 300,000 global EV deliveries in 2026. From a manufacturing standpoint, are you already capable of producing at that annualized run rate today? And what are the key amounts, either utilization, supply chain, labor or localization that needs to happen to support that volume? There's also been discussions of competitors expanding their manufacturing footprint into Southeast Asia and namely Vietnam. So how do you think about — how do you want investors to think about VinFast's core differentiation, whether it's product, pricing, ecosystem or aftersales? And where do you believe you have the most defensible advantage over the next 12 to 18 months? Thank you for that question, Jesse. That's very comprehensive. Madam Thuy, over to you.

Thuy Thi LeChairwoman of the Board

Yes. Absolutely, we're capable of manufacturing and delivering that volume of at least 300,000 vehicles in 2026. Regarding the 300,000 or at least 300,000 delivery target for 2026, the growth will mainly be driven by Vietnam and our core Asian markets. From a manufacturing perspective, we already have sufficient capacity. With facilities in Hai Phong, Ha Tinh and India, our combined capacity exceeds 600,000 vehicles per year already. So that will support our growth target. As an example, our flagship factory in Hai Phong has ramped up to above 70% capacity at the end of 2025 and still has headroom to produce more. From the supply chain perspective, we have developed a global supplier network of 1,700 partners and about 800 direct suppliers that are ready to supply to us. Beyond pricing, we differentiate through our EV ecosystem, including the rollout of the V-GREEN charging infrastructure and the expansion of GSM ride-hailing fleet, which have built long-term consumer confidence. Over time, as our scale increases and our ecosystem matures, we expect promotions to normalize with differentiation increasingly driven by great value for money, vehicle products and enhanced ownership experience and aftersales service and, of course, the best-in-class warranty coverage. Those are the differentiating points between us and other competitors that might want to enter Southeast Asia and Vietnam in particular.

Amandae BaeyHead of Investor Relations

Thank you, Madam Thuy. Our next question is regarding robotics manufacturing. Can you give us a sense of the timeline for when VinFast would begin manufacturing robots for the robotics companies within the Vingroup ecosystem? And would that require additional CapEx or changes to your existing production lines? Anne, would you like to take this, please?

Thu Nguyen PhamDeputy CEO of Investments

Sure. Humanoid robot trials are already planned for the second half of 2026 across two of our factory plants in Vietnam for certain operational tests. We'll continue to conduct ongoing evaluation of robotics integration within our smart manufacturing road map and make sure that the humanoid or the robot arm visual AI programs work seamlessly with what we currently have, which is already fairly highly automated. At the same time, we do not want our testing to disrupt the core EV production because the plant in Hai Phong is basically operating at full capacity and the one in Ha Tinh is also ramping up very fast. I'm very excited, and we hope to share further updates in the coming quarters.

Amandae BaeyHead of Investor Relations

Thank you, Anne. Our next question is from Harry of Edison Research. Could you possibly give a little bit more color on the geographic breakdown of the e-scooter growth you are expecting this year? Will the majority of the growth be driven by an increased number of scooters sold in Vietnam? Or do you expect it to be driven by international markets? And a follow-up question is, should we expect e-scooters to have a meaningful margin impact moving forward? Madam Thuy.

Thuy Thi LeChairwoman of the Board

Last year we experienced very strong growth in e-scooter sales, and that was all in Vietnam. This year, we expect to expand to five international markets in Asia as well. In Asia, you see a lot of two-wheel vehicles; the market opportunity beyond Vietnam is very strong. But we expect most of the growth for 2026 will still come from Vietnam for various reasons, driven by policy tailwinds in Vietnam, including the expected restrictions on gasoline motorbikes in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, the two big cities in Vietnam, by the middle of 2026. We focus on the largest segment of two-wheelers: students and daily commuters. Adoption is accelerating. As I mentioned earlier, we will expand internationally into India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Thailand and the Philippines. Another important fact about our e-scooter is the battery swapping rollout by V-GREEN that reduces charging barriers, especially for people who use two-wheel vehicles for deliveries. As of January 2026, there are already 4,500 battery swapping stations installed across Vietnam, supported by retail and logistics partnerships. As the two-wheeler segment scales, we expect it to become an increasingly meaningful contributor to both revenues and profitability for VinFast, and it will provide strong support for our four-wheels business.

Amandae BaeyHead of Investor Relations

Thank you, Madam Thuy. We're just about at time, so we'll end with the last WebEx question regarding our guidance. Can you provide a breakdown or give us a sense of which markets or models do you expect to contribute the most to your target of at least 300,000 EVs this year?

Thuy Thi LeChairwoman of the Board

For 2026, the primary growth is still expected from Vietnam and the core Asian markets. There will be new model launches in India, Indonesia and the Philippines. The expansion of GSM operations in international markets will also drive growth. We are building the dealership network across Vietnam and Asia. Those are the factors that would help drive the EV guidance to at least 300,000 vehicles this year.

Amandae BaeyHead of Investor Relations

Thank you, Madam Thuy. Operator, that concludes the earnings call.

OperatorOperator

Thank you. That does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

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