December 13, 2022: Vietnamese EV maker VinFast is going public in the U.S.

VinFast on Tuesday said it had filed a registration area with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the initial formal step toward a public offering in the coming year. The firm in March announced plans for a $2 billion area in North Carolina and hoped to deliver its first vehicles to American consumers by year-end.

Citigroup Global Markets, Credit Suisse, and J.P. Morgan secures are the lead bankers who offer. VinFast will trade on the Nasdaq being the symbol “VFS” once its offering is completed. The firm didn’t express how much money it was hoping to raise.

VinFast became Vietnam’s initial domestic automaker when it started manufacturing internal combustion vehicles in 2019. It’s focused entirely on electric vehicle production of its last internal combustion model, which ended in November. The firm is currently taking reservations for the electric SUVs, the midsize VF8 and the larger VF9.

The VF8 and VF9 started at $57,000 and $76,000, respectively, but both can be ordered without batteries, which lowers the up-front cost hard if the buyer opts for a battery subscription each month. Without batteries, the VF8 and VF9 began at more than $42,000 and $57,500; the battery subscriptions cost $169 per month for the VF8 and $219 each month for the larger VF9.

At the end of September, VinFast had 58,000 worldwide reservations for the two models. All VinFasts are now made at the firm’s factory in Haiphong; it is expected to have its U.S. factory, with 150,000 vehicles each year, up and running by July 2024.

While VinFast is new to the U.S., it’s not a typical beginning. Founded in 2017, VinFast is an area of Vingroup, Vietnam’s significant conglomerate, with interests in real estate development and education and several technology businesses.

But while Vingroup is well documented in its home country, VinFast is yet to be profitable: It lost $1.3 billion and an additional $1.4 billion through the initial three quarters of 2022.