Open Source: Former VinFast staff share what’s held the EV maker back. 7 things to know.
I’m Brian Gordon, tech reporter for The News & Observer, and this is Open Source, a weekly newsletter on business, labor and technology in North Carolina.
Let’s start the new year with a quick look back at 2023. Compared to 2022, North Carolina’s top jobs announcements over the past 12 months were smaller and its top layoffs were unfortunately larger.
Here’s hoping for fewer cuts in 2024.
The rest of this newsletter is mostly about VinFast, the Vietnamese automaker that is poised to shape the greater Triangle region in more ways this year. Last week, the first VinFast franchise dealership in the United States opened in Cary, with an inventory of 60 electric SUVs. This week, the company announced it will open four more dealerships in other states.
Construction is also underway at the VinFast factory site in eastern Chatham County. I visited the site a few weeks ago and saw it busy with trucks and workers. The Chicago-based developer Clayco was managing the progress. Sometime in 2025, VinFast has pledged to open a multibillion-dollar assembly plant on the site, located about 30 miles southwest of downtown Raleigh near the unincorporated town of Moncure. It will eventually employ at least 7,500 people, the company projects.
VinFast represents the first big automotive assembly plant in state history.
Over the past few weeks, I took a step back to look at the company’s overall culture. VinFast’s transition to the United States is being done with unprecedented speed and with a high degree of bumpiness. There have been delays, postponements, executive shuffles, changing polices and abysmal initial car reviews.
To find out why this has all occurred, I spoke to former VinFast employees, multiple auto journalists, an electric car influencer, two experts on modern Vietnam, and VinFast itself. I hope you read the story that came from these conversations. Below are seven new takeaways I learned from my reporting:
- Before VinFast introduced its VF8 model to U.S. journalists in May, some within the company warned the car wasn’t ready to be shown. These concerns were ignored, and the media event went forward. The reviews were horrendous.
- VinFast offered journalists at this media event $100 prepaid debit cards. Multiple reviewers told me accepting this gift would have violated their respective publication’s ethics standards.
- The head of VinFast’s parent company, Vietnamese billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong, is a micromanager. “A hundred percent to the chairman of the company, if you need approval, even for a relatively minor thing,” one former VinFast employee said.
- Staff turnover at the company has been high. “Every three or four months, there’s a new set of people,” said electric car YouTuber Alex Guberman, who has partnered with VinFast to produce promotional content. “I’m in the middle of my deal with them, and the direction has changed four times because new people are jumping in.” One of the causes of the turnover is burnout. One former VinFast employee said he worked 18-hour days and six-day weeks before quitting after six months.
- Fun tidbit: This fall, VinFast coordinated with “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” to have the talk show’s host pick up singer Olivia Rodrigo in a VinFast VF8 during a viral video.
- The carmaker once offered auto journalist Matt Farah $10,000. The journalist called the act “shady.” VinFast said the offer was made by mistake. The carmaker says it is no longer working with the public relations firm that approached Farah on VinFast’s behalf.
- One of the key (and perhaps obvious) solutions I heard is for VinFast to introduce better and less expensive vehicles. The company says it’s done this, though it hasn’t decided when independent reviewers will be able to do new test drives. One of the most recent independent reviews still panned VinFast’s inaugural North American model.
VinFast has a lot of money and seems to have a lot of will. I hope my story properly explored the steps people feel the company, which is still a startup, can take to improve.
National Tech Happenings
- The New York Times has sued ChatGPT-creator OpenAI and Microsoft over copyright infringement.
- Only a handful of electric vehicles qualify for the $7,500 federal tax credit after new requirements about battery materials went into effect, The Verge reports.
- Jan. 8 is World Typing Day. I clocked in at 78 words per minute in a one-minute typing test today. What’s your speed?
Thanks for reading and looking forward to a great 2024!
