The Electric Revolution: Wuling’s Bold Venture into Vietnam’s EV Market

According to TMT Motors’ Q3 2024 financial report, the distributor witnessed a revenue of 352 billion VND in the past quarter, a 21% decrease compared to the same period last year. Meanwhile, the cost of goods sold increased slightly, resulting in a gross loss of nearly 38 billion VND for the electric car distributor.

After deducting expenses, TMT recorded a post-tax loss of 93 billion VND in the latest quarter, marking the second consecutive quarter of losses. For the first nine months, the company’s post-tax profit was negative, with a loss of over 191 billion VND, while in the same period last year, the company made a profit of over 2 billion VND. This is also the largest loss ever recorded by the enterprise.

Given this situation, the auditing firm expressed a material uncertainty related to going concern, indicating doubts about TMT’s ability to continue operating.

TMT attributed these losses to common economic challenges, including the real estate market, inflation risks, consumers’ tight spending, and technological changes, which led to a decline in automobile consumption.

Additionally, the high financial costs incurred by TMT over the years, along with large inventories and various production and business expenses, also contributed to the losses.

To address these issues, TMT’s management has taken decisive actions by investing significantly in sales activities to cut losses and prepare for a new business cycle. They are also undertaking a comprehensive restructuring of the enterprise, including product restructuring, supplier restructuring, and a reorganization of production and business operations.

TMT aims to reduce production costs by a minimum of 25% to 30% to enhance its production capacity. The company has also downsized its workforce, streamlined expenses, and formulated a new strategy for its products.

Regarding electric vehicles, the distributor has negotiated prices with foreign partners to select products that align with the Vietnamese market and ensure competitiveness.

TMT is currently the distributor of Wuling-branded electric vehicles from China, including the Mini EV and Bingo. While the Mini EV is still struggling to find its footing among Vietnamese consumers and lags behind VinFast VF 3 in sales, the Wuling Bingo was recently launched in the Vietnamese market in November 2024, offering four versions with prices ranging from 349 million VND to 569 million VND.

Thai Son (Tuoitrethudo)