VinFast Auto - Q4 2023
February 22, 2024
Transcript
Operator (participant)
Hello, and welcome to the VinFast Q4 and Full Year 2023 Earnings Call. All participants will be in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there'll be a question and answer session. Instructions will be given at that time. As a reminder, this call is being recorded. I would like to hand the call over to Brook Taylor, Vice President for Government Relations and Strategic Partnerships. Please go ahead.
Brook Taylor (VP of Government Relations and Strategic Partnerships)
Thank you, operator, and good morning or afternoon to everyone. My name is Brook Taylor. I'm the Vice President of Government Relations and Strategic Partnerships at VinFast. Thank you for joining us for our 2023 Fourth Quarter and Full Year Earnings Call. We will reference a slide presentation today, which is accessible on our website. Joining me on the call today are Madam Thuy and Anh Nguyen, our recently appointed CFO. Both have prepared remarks summarizing the fourth quarter and full year 2023 results, as well as our expectations for 2024. Then we'll take your questions. Before I turn it over to Madam Thuy, let me remind you that some of the statements on this call include forward-looking statements under federal securities law.
These include, without limitation, statements regarding the future financial performance of the company, delivery volumes, financial and operating outlook and guidance, macroeconomic and industry trends, company initiatives, and other future events. These statements are based on the predictions and expectations as of today, and actual events or results may differ due to a number of risks and uncertainties. We refer you to the cautionary language and risk factors in our most recent filings with the SEC. In addition, management will make reference to non-GAAP financial measures during this call. A discussion of why we use non-GAAP financial measures and information regarding reconciliation of our GAAP versus non-GAAP results is available in our earnings press release issued earlier this morning, as well as in our Investor Day. With that, I would like to turn it over to Madam Thuy.
Lê Thị Thu Thủy (Chairwoman of the Board of Directors)
Thanks, Brook. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. After what could only be categorized as a year of first for VinFast, we ended 2023 with a strong public debut and bold expansion, marked by a diverse product mix and strategic channel growth that reinforce our position as a formidable competitor. Our lean operation, capital-light channel model, and agile execution will lead to margin resiliency, while our sleek and modern product designs, advanced technology, competitive and creative offerings through the unique battery leasing model and best-in-class warranty, enabling us to continue earning market share. I would like to talk about the key achievement in Q4 and in 2023. In the fourth quarter, we deliver on our commitment to make our EVs more accessible to our customers globally.
We delivered a record number of 13,513 EVs globally in the fourth quarter, up 35% quarter-over-quarter, and our total EV deliveries for the full year were 34,855, which represents an increase of 374% from 2022. Our e-scooter business also experienced significant growth, rising 21% year-over-year for a total of 72,468 units in 2023. In terms of product launches, we proudly introduced four new SUV models in Vietnam across a number of segments, including our flagship VF 9 model, VF 5, VF 6, and the VF 7. In particular, we are pleased that the VF 6, which launched in our domestic market last October, recorded initial sales far above our expectations. We will gradually bring all these SUV models to our overseas markets this year.
I would like to spend some time on the market update. First, North America, and mostly U.S. 2023 was a strong year for us, and we were pleased with our progress in the U.S. and Canadian markets. The U.S. remains one of our strategic markets, and we are earning our right to compete for market share with our lineup. Although we initially received some critical but important product feedback, we listened to our U.S. customers, and I'm really proud of our team for rapidly implementing a number of important improvements and updates across all aspects of our vehicles. We will continue to deploy resources and act decisively to meet and exceed customers' expectations.
In the fourth quarter of 2023, we also made an important pivot from the capital-heavy direct-to-consumer distribution model to a capital-light hybrid model, with a strong focus on leveraging existing distribution infrastructure by building a dealership network in the U.S. and globally. Our growth is highly dependent on a strong dealer network that represents the brand well and gives consumer a highly personalized experience. Here are some recent development. We just signed our first dealer in the U.S. in the fourth quarter, and we already have 75 dealers under application by the end of last week, including leadership agreements that we have previously announced.
Importantly, we increased our dealership footprint across the U.S., improved dealer inventory levels, and removed any barriers of product availability for our U.S. customers, and we'll continue to do so with a target of 130 points of sale in the next phase. We are excited that we now have 13 showrooms in California and six new dealers in five states: New York, Texas, Kansas, Florida, and North Carolina. This dealership model, starting in the U.S., has quickly proven itself, with recent sales improving noticeably. We plan to do the same for Canada and many other markets. We also remain committed to building our plant in North Carolina and manufacturing EVs in North America, but we still remain in the early stage of construction. About the new markets with the highlights on Indonesia and India.
Building awareness and success in high-profile markets like in the U.S., strengthen our ability to compete effectively in other markets to build scale, especially, the untapped volume-driven Asia market. For example, we have discussed our plans for Indonesia, including our previously announced investment in the first phase construction of a CKD plant with an annual capacity of up to 50,000 electric vehicles. Let me underscore our excitement about the opportunity we see and why Indonesia is the first choice in our growth plan for Asia. Not only is Indonesia is the largest economy in Southeast Asia, with a population of 280 million people, but it has the right policy in place to support rapid EV, adoption. The government is increasingly focusing on, electrifying transportation, and we are seeing growing support for the EV industry.
Yet there are relatively few competitors already in place. Given its location, mineral resources availability, Indonesia is also a strategic link to our global EV supply chain. We recently marked our launch in the country, during the Indonesia International Motor Show 2024, and signing preliminary agreements with five dealers. The feedback was incredibly positive, with the look and feel of the cars, especially the unique battery leasing option. We have not yet released pricing for the market, but already received overwhelming number of deposits for our vehicles and thousands of leads of interest. We also announced yesterday an MOU with three Indonesian companies for a fleet of, the first 600 EVs for taxi purpose in Indonesia. We expect additional fleet announcement in the coming months, underscoring our vehicle pipeline potential in the region.
In India, we aim to seize the growth opportunities and market potential of the world's most populous nation, as well as the country's rapidly expanding EV market and favorable regulatory environment for the transportation industry, including government initiatives to reduce carbon emissions. In the fourth quarter, we signed an MOU with the Tamil Nadu state in India on the establishment of the CKD facility, and we will hold a groundbreaking ceremony in the next couple of days. The lower priced products, combined with our unique battery leasing policies, are expected to be even more proven in such emerging markets and differentiate us from other competitors. Just to re-elaborate on the benefits of battery lease, buyers pay one price for the vehicle and lease the battery for a monthly fee.
This mechanism brings the upfront price of our vehicles and the monthly running costs now in line with or even more competitive than many gas-powered vehicles on the market today. This battery leasing model also provides convenience to customers with a lifetime battery warranty and a replacement if the battery falls below 70%. The monthly battery leasing fee covers all repairs, maintenance, and replacement costs, including swapping out the battery for a newer one, so customers will have peace of mind. And the interesting point is the battery leasing fee is even lower than the cost for gasoline for an equivalent vehicle. Now, I would like to take a few minutes to discuss some important new vehicle launches and highlight on our recent technology achievements. First of all, about the VF 3 and VF Wild.
At CES 2024, we announced the global launch of the VF 3, a four-seater dynamic mini e-SUV, whose price is expected to be very attractive. We also unveiled the concept of a midsize pickup truck, called the VF Wild, highlighting VinFast's innovative efforts with exceptional performance. Both of these vehicles signify our commitment to broadening our product range and promoting sustainable mobility by making smart, safe, exciting electric vehicles accessible to everyone. Next, about the VF 7. The futuristic-looking VF 7 was also brought out to CES this year, confirming its attraction, thanks to spacious interior, smart ADAS, and safety features, and outstanding performance for the price point, with available trims featuring a range of modern and smart technology that set it apart from other vehicles in the same segment.
In addition to this new product announcement, our presence at CES highlighted how VinFast continues to develop technology-enabled features that make our customers' driving experience safer, more convenient, and more enjoyable. We were honored to receive the Innovation Award this year for our MirrorSense technology. This is just one recognition out of many through the integration of our cutting-edge AI solutions to the implementation of the latest battery technology, to the inclusion of modern cybersecurity and functional safety features in our electric vehicles. We are actively shaping the future of intelligent vehicles and setting new benchmarks in safety standards across all our products. Let me talk about the outlook for 2024 for VinFast. As we look at 2024, we will remain focused on two global priorities. First of all, more VinFast vehicles on the road globally, and secondly, continual cost optimization.
So our first goal, to put more VinFast vehicles on the road. We are excited to broaden our distribution channels through leveraging the local network and expertise of third-party dealerships and distributors. We expect to reach approximately 400 points of sales globally by the end of 2024, including, 130 in North America, which sell through dealerships, contributing a meaningful portion in the second half of the year. We also expect shipments of VF 9 to the U.S. and VF 8 to Europe to help us to increase market share, and we are already starting to see strong order book in January, from the U.S. For Indonesia, after the first step of cooperating with local dealers, VinFast is expected to announce pricing and sales policy in the first half of 2024, and start distributing our first model in this market within this year.
On to our second goal, cost optimization efforts. We are working on initiatives that are targeting to reduce approximately 40% of our BOM costs within two years from the launch of each of the vehicle model. This comprises approximately half of the cost saving from engineering, including redesigning new parts and enhancing our platform strategy, and the other half are cost saving from sourcing and purchasing, including in-sourcing and shifting suppliers. Our CEO has been directly, spearheading this effort, and some of the initiatives have already returned positive results, and our CFO will share more a bit later. In closing, our team are executing well and remain focused on driver-centric benefits for our customers and dealers through an expanding product lineup, innovative technology, and improving product quality.
I will now turn it over to our CFO, Lan Anh, who will summarize the fourth quarter and 2023 performance. Lan Anh?
Anh Nguyễn (CFO)
Thank you, Madam Thuy, and my pleasure to speak to everyone on the call today. First of all, I'd like to take the opportunity to share my excitement taking this new role as CFO of VinFast. I will do my best to contribute to the success of the company, especially through focused activities to improve profitability, strengthen our balance sheet, and hit growth targets. VinFast is in a unique position to capture tremendous growth opportunities as a global pure EV player. I'm incredibly proud of the effort and commitment of our execution team, and I'm pleased to say that this hard work has already led to tangible improvements. For financial results, we recorded revenue of $437 million in Q4, representing an increase of 26% from the third quarter of 2023, and an increase of 133% year-over-year.
For the whole year, 2023, our revenue reached approximately $1.2 billion, marking a significant 91% growth compared to the previous year. Growth was driven by sales volumes and new products. An average of EV selling price is also 36% higher than last year. In addition, gross loss in 2023 was recorded at $552 million, and we are proud to have realized a significant improvement in gross margin on a full year basis... from -83% in Q4 last year to -40% in this quarter, and from -82% in 2022 to -46% in 2023, driven by lower bill of materials and production costs.
Regarding operating loss, we recorded an improvement quarter-over-quarter 18% decrease, and year-over-year 106% decrease in R&D and SG&A spending as a percentage of revenue, thanks to a jump in sales volume and stable operating expenses. Turning now to CapEx. We spent around $250 million during Q4, in line with our previous guidance. This was driven by our investments in the launch of VF 6 and VF 7, the North Carolina plant, and development of charging stations and distribution networks. As a conclusion, I want to stress again that we have started to see a lot of improvements across the board in Q4 and fiscal year 2023. I'm very excited about the coming quarters, as we expect the continuation of positive change and the results of our continuous focus on growing top line and optimizing costs.
With that, I will turn it over to Madam Thuy for closing remarks.
Lê Thị Thu Thủy (Chairwoman of the Board of Directors)
Thank you, Lan Anh. To summarize, we will complete the full EV lineup in 2024 for global markets, including the right-hand drive versions for relevant markets. For North America, we plan to ship the VF 9 to the U.S. and the VF 8 to the EU, and remaining models to follow, as well as for other markets, which will help drive our sales significantly, especially towards the latter half of the year. We are excited about new markets and traction so far, and how the dealership model will help accelerate go-to-market and boost sales. We expect to reach approximately 400 points of sales globally by the end of 2024, including 130 in North America. Improved cost and quality remain a major focus for us, which is directly managed by our new CEO.
We currently have the capacity to manufacture up to 300,000 EVs annually and expect to deliver 100,000 EVs globally in 2024. I believe our team is well aligned to drive operational improvements in 2024, while delivering share gain across our product segment. With the new leadership team announced earlier this year, we believe the company is strongly positioned in 2024 as it enters the next phase of its development and accelerates its global expansion. We thank you for your continued support, and with that, I turn it over to the operator to open the lineup of questions.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. If you'd like to ask a question over the phones, please press star one one. If your question has been answered and you'd like to remove yourself from the queue, please press star one one again. Our first question comes from Andres Sheppard with Cantor Fitzgerald. Your line is open.
Andres Sheppard (Senior Research Analyst)
Hi, good evening, everyone, or good morning. Congratulations on the quarter and all of the, all of the recent developments, and thank you so much for taking our questions. Maybe the first question is, I'm wondering if it's possible to get some sort of direction on the delivery target that you put out. I'm wondering is, should we expect perhaps maybe a bigger concentration in the second half of the year? Just trying to get a sense of what maybe seasonality or kind of how that guidance will look like throughout the year. Thank you.
Lê Thị Thu Thủy (Chairwoman of the Board of Directors)
You can hear me, right?
Andres Sheppard (Senior Research Analyst)
Yep.
Lê Thị Thu Thủy (Chairwoman of the Board of Directors)
Oh, okay. Thank you. Now thank you for the question. So we think that most of the sales will come in the second half of the year. We have several markets with the right-hand drive vehicles that will start, you know, we have been going through the homologation procedure, and we start delivering at the end of Q2 or in Q3. And also a few other markets that we need to start or the spec to sell. So we expect that a lot of the volume will come in the second half of the year.
Andres Sheppard (Senior Research Analyst)
Got it. That, that's very helpful. Thanks, Madame Thuy. And maybe, as a quick follow-up, how should we be thinking about, growth margins, throughout this year and into next year? You know, what does the path to maybe break even growth margins maybe looks like at a high level? Thank you.
Lê Thị Thu Thủy (Chairwoman of the Board of Directors)
Mm. Thank you. Yeah, at the high level, we plan to get to very close to positive gross margin by the end of the year, and definitely in 2025. And continue, and the gross margin continue improving over the years.
Andres Sheppard (Senior Research Analyst)
Got it. That's very helpful. Thank you again, and congratulations on the quarter. I'll pass it on. Thank you.
Lê Thị Thu Thủy (Chairwoman of the Board of Directors)
Thanks, Andreas.
Operator (participant)
Thank you. Our next question comes from Brian Dobson with Chardan Capital. Your line is open.
Brian Dobson (Managing Director)
... Hi, good evening. Thanks very much for taking my question. So that, that was a positive update you gave on the, the 75 U.S. dealers going through the contracting process. I believe your goal is 130 dealership locations for this year in North America. Does that goal include multiple location dealerships? And if so, how many dealers would you need to sign to get that, to get to that 130 locations in North America?
Lê Thị Thu Thủy (Chairwoman of the Board of Directors)
Hi, hi, Brian. So, the 75 dealership groups that we're talking to have multiple, some of them have multiple locations. So far, we have been working with multi independent dealers groups, and each of, some of them will have more than one dealership locations. And we prioritize the dealers that have locations that are available right away. So, we believe that we should be able to get to 130 point of sales in North America by the end of the year.
Brian Dobson (Managing Director)
Great. Thanks very much. And just to revisit my colleague's earlier question, when you're thinking about that 100,000 vehicle target for this year, what would the geographic mix on those sales look like?
Lê Thị Thu Thủy (Chairwoman of the Board of Directors)
So right now the mix is, the forecast will still be mainly supported by our home markets in Vietnam. So about, around half of the number will be from Vietnam. And then the rest will be split between North America, Europe and Middle East and, closer to home, Asia market.
Brian Dobson (Managing Director)
Thanks very much. And just as a final question from me, you know, what could we expect from average selling price for 2024?
Lê Thị Thu Thủy (Chairwoman of the Board of Directors)
So the mix that we have right now is kind of, I mean, it really depends on market by market because the product mix in different markets are quite different. You talk about Asia, then and we see a bigger numbers in especially Vietnam included. You see more like a VF 5, for example. But when you go to, like, Europe or U.S., you see a bigger number in, like, VF 8, VF 6, VF 7. So it's quite like a quite balanced mix across all different products, if you look at it globally.
Brian Dobson (Managing Director)
Excellent. Thanks, Madam Thuy, and congratulations on a good quarter.
Lê Thị Thu Thủy (Chairwoman of the Board of Directors)
Thank you.
Operator (participant)
There are no further questions on the phone. Please proceed with any web questions.
Brook Taylor (VP of Government Relations and Strategic Partnerships)
Thank you, operator. We will now turn to questions from the web. First question we have is: Can you please provide some more detail on the gross margin loss of 40%? What are the reasons for this, and what is the path to profitability?
Lê Thị Thu Thủy (Chairwoman of the Board of Directors)
Okay, let me take that question. So, actually, if there's a in Q4 versus Q2, if you take out the one-off adjustment for the NRV, the net realizable value, basically, then you see an upward trend in profit margin from 37% in Q3 to 27% in roughly Q4. So the profit margin is getting better, but because of the one-off adjustment for the inventory at the end of the year, we have a gross margin of 40%. Maybe let me... I think I see some of the questions here, so maybe can I or Brook, you want to answer to read the question, or you want me to just read the question and answer?
Brook Taylor (VP of Government Relations and Strategic Partnerships)
Please, Madame Thuy, if you have the question there, go ahead.
Lê Thị Thu Thủy (Chairwoman of the Board of Directors)
So the next question also from Tuc Tan: How many cars were sold to GSM and in the Vietnam market in Q4 2023 and in full year 2023? We have this number in Form 6-K. Basically, it's about in 2023, the big, the first year of GSM in Vietnam, we saw about 70%, over 70% of the EVs to GSM and some to the customers that bought Vinhomes home. So there's a whole section on related-party sales. Similarly for e-scooter, we sold about 45% of the e-scooter to GSM for the e-scooter taxi as well as to some of the Vinhomes customers.
The next question also from Tuc Tan: Can you please share the CapEx and R&D investment guidance in 2024, 2025? Our estimate right now is, in 2022, 2024, we're running at around $1 billion-$1.5 billion in CapEx. Some of that is mandatory, some of that can be pushed to later, but roughly that's the number that we have right now. The next question is on development timeline for the U.S. factory. We're still keeping the current timeline for U.S. factory, so by the end of 2025. The next question is how much grant the Vingroup chairman expect to disperse in 2024?
Right now, we can, we still have about close to $700 million, so I think $680 million, in grant from Chairman and Vingroup. So we expect to receive such grant in early half of this year.
Brook Taylor (VP of Government Relations and Strategic Partnerships)
Madam Thuy, I have a question here, if you would like to take this next one.
Lê Thị Thu Thủy (Chairwoman of the Board of Directors)
Oh, okay. Yes. Well, yes, I, I can't see all the questions kind of going up and down, but, yeah, go ahead.
Brook Taylor (VP of Government Relations and Strategic Partnerships)
The next question is, can you please provide some additional detail on the strategy for India and Indonesia?
Lê Thị Thu Thủy (Chairwoman of the Board of Directors)
India and Indonesia are the two important new markets for us this year. They are closer to us. The vehicles sold in this market are very closer to the vehicles that have been tested and delivered in Vietnam market. So, India, with 1.5 billion people, which is the most populous country with the very supportive government policy, and the whole drive towards green transportation, we believe that we should be able to take some market share in the market. Indonesia is part of ASEAN. You know, Vietnam is part of ASEAN as well.
So, one of our neighboring markets, we started launching in Indonesia market last Thursday, and the results so far has been very positive. The support that we received from the market, from the government policy to private sector, to customers, have been very positive. With 280 million people, Indonesia is the third most populous country in the world, and we also believe that we are uniquely positioned to take some market share in... as the country, as the EV adoption in Indonesia continue increasing. I think as just the last thing, as we already announced, we're going to open the factory in both India and Indonesia in order to take advantage of the tax incentive given by the government.
Next one?
Operator (participant)
Thank you. Our next question comes from Greg Lewis with BTIG. Your line is open. Greg Lewis with BTIG, your line is open. If your telephone's muted, please unmute. Please proceed with any further questions.
Brook Taylor (VP of Government Relations and Strategic Partnerships)
Thank you, operator. While we're waiting for Greg, we have additional questions from the webcast here. The next question is: Why are gross margins decreasing as you grow revenue? Are you discounting your vehicles, or are you experiencing an increase in your production costs?
Lê Thị Thu Thủy (Chairwoman of the Board of Directors)
Let me take that question. I think I kind of provided an answer to that question before. The reality is the gross margin didn't actually decrease. There was a one-off adjustment for inventory at the end of the year. The profit margin actually got better between from Q4 from Q3. And the improvement in gross margin was due to improved production cost, improved BOM cost, so basically better cost optimization in Q4 versus Q2 versus Q3.
Brook Taylor (VP of Government Relations and Strategic Partnerships)
Thank you, Madame Thuy. The next question: What was the total use of cash during the quarter? And could you please provide an update on the funding efforts moving forward?
Lê Thị Thu Thủy (Chairwoman of the Board of Directors)
In Q4?
Brook Taylor (VP of Government Relations and Strategic Partnerships)
That is correct.
Lê Thị Thu Thủy (Chairwoman of the Board of Directors)
So basically, if you look at VinFast every quarter in from operations, and this is like for going forward, in looking into 2024 as well. Each quarter, we roughly burn about from operations about $250 million, right? And we spend probably somewhere like $150 million in R&D in the previous quarter, which is reducing going forward because we already pretty much completed the R&D for the vehicles. And then a little bit on CapEx for manufacturing. I think the last quarter, it was just I think $40 million-$50 million, something like that. So if you ask about the Q4.
Brook Taylor (VP of Government Relations and Strategic Partnerships)
Thank you. The next question from the webcast: Can we get a sense of your expectation of margin profile trajectory going forward?
Lê Thị Thu Thủy (Chairwoman of the Board of Directors)
We expect that the margin will continue improving. If you look at the trend, it's been trending better quarter by quarter. Like I said earlier, we expect that by the end of the year 2024, we're going to get very close to 0% gross profit margin, and then we're heading into the positive territory next year.
Brook Taylor (VP of Government Relations and Strategic Partnerships)
Thank you, Madam Thuy. The next question from the webcast: How many more charging points have been added in the VinFast network over the quarter?
Lê Thị Thu Thủy (Chairwoman of the Board of Directors)
I think we added something like 90-something, almost 100,000 charging points to our network to bring our total charging points globally to about 800,000 charging points. I think I explained it a little bit in the previous quarters, but in Vietnam, I mean, it's different in different markets, and we continue and will continue to be that way. In Vietnam, we built out the whole charging network of up to 250,000 charging points because we don't have a public charging network in Vietnam, so we own the charging network in Vietnam in order to grow sale.
Outside of Vietnam, in developed markets like U.S. and E.U., we tap into the existing charging network by integrating our vehicles with the CPOs in the market. So, as we add more CPOs and as our CPOs add more charging, our charging network continue growing. In some newer markets, like India and Indonesia or other markets where charging network is not developed yet, then we might consider, you know, building charging network as well together with other partners in those markets. So it's really market by market, but our charging network will continue growing.
Brook Taylor (VP of Government Relations and Strategic Partnerships)
Thank you, Madam Thuy. Next question from the webcast: How many of the 100,000 projected cars are expected to be sold to GSM?
Lê Thị Thu Thủy (Chairwoman of the Board of Directors)
We still think that, as GSM is growing in different markets, in Vietnam alone, GSM already in 19 different cities and continue growing. So I think the demand from Vietnam is also will still be significant, but not as much as last year. But as GSM grows internationally, starting from Laos and other countries like, you know, Indonesia, like Philippines, based on what they explained to me, there will be demand from GSM as well for those markets. But we believe that the total number will be, or at least the percentage of our total sales for 2024 will be significantly less than in 2023.
Brook Taylor (VP of Government Relations and Strategic Partnerships)
Thank you. Next question from the webcast: Can you share the expected CapEx for fiscal year 2024 and how the company plans to fund that?
Lê Thị Thu Thủy (Chairwoman of the Board of Directors)
Okay, I give it to Lan Anh to answer this question.
Anh Nguyễn (CFO)
Yeah. We anticipate that the CapEx between $1 billion and $1.5 billion each year, with $1 billion invested in the U.S. factory over the next two years, and the remaining are allocated to the facilities in India, Indonesia, and Vietnam. We are exploring avenues to support CapEx needs from local and international financings. We have a strong commitment from Vingroup and our chairman to support CapEx needs and in the long-term growth. Thank you.
Brook Taylor (VP of Government Relations and Strategic Partnerships)
Thank you. Next question from the webcast: How would you characterize your BOM and battery costs over the quarters? Were you able to realize the benefits from falling metal and lithium prices?
Lê Thị Thu Thủy (Chairwoman of the Board of Directors)
So like other OEMs, right? Our material costs are being adjusted, I think on quarterly basis, and supplier by supplier, but pretty much the same in the whole industry, being adjusted when the commodities or the material going up and down. So we follow the same practice of the industry.
Brook Taylor (VP of Government Relations and Strategic Partnerships)
... Thank you. Next question from the webcast: Could you please provide an update on sources of funding moving forward?
Lê Thị Thu Thủy (Chairwoman of the Board of Directors)
I think I've heard a lot of questions about liquidity plan, so let me address our liquidity plan, because that way, we don't have to kind of answer the same question multiple times. So, right now, if you... I think in the presentation, we show that, you know, our current liquidity is about $1.8 billion, so roughly about $2 billion. So that's from the cash, cash on the balance sheet at the end of the year, plus the remaining grants from our chairman in Vingroup, the equity line of credit, so roughly that's what we have.
And then, after the listing of VinFast, it opened up quite a lot of avenues for funding from both public and private. We are expecting that after the blackout period, we should be able to raise funds based on the pipeline that we have. Also, you asked about CapEx before, so, and as Lan Anh already explained, we have planned to fund a portion of the CapEx locally in those markets to pay for our CapEx.
Going forward, and you, as you also see that we pivoted from the CapEx-heavy direct-to-consumer distribution model to the CapEx-light dealership model, so that would also help with the... So the cost for expansion is not huge as with the direct-to-consumer model. And then we also have in our pipeline multiple transactions that we think that we'd be able to execute on this year. I think I mentioned earlier in one of the interviews that we plan to add to the free float about 10, at least 10%-20% to the free float, so that plan is still ongoing right now.
So I hope that would give some idea about our liquidity, plan for 2024 and going forward.
Brook Taylor (VP of Government Relations and Strategic Partnerships)
Thank you, Madam Thuy. Next question from the webcast: Have you shipped more cars to the U.S. yet? How are sales going in the U.S.?
Lê Thị Thu Thủy (Chairwoman of the Board of Directors)
Sales in the U.S., actually this year, is, we, we've seen very positive signs in the U.S. this year. After the initial, after last year, after receiving very critical but important feedback from the market, and we improve on the vehicles and started delivering the vehicles, I think in January, we saw a huge uptick in deliveries. We had only one dealer open in May, maybe it's a competition between the direct to consumer and the dealership. But, you know, somehow in January, our sales in our own store in California also increased significantly. And this year, this month, in February, we received a lot of orders this month already.
Like I mentioned, we had one dealer open in January, and as we add more and more dealers, we expect that, you know, the sales in the U.S. in multi-markets will increase, as well as our customers will be able to have access to our vehicles. Keep in mind also that we still have around almost 9,000, right? 9,000 orders in the U.S. that we already received the deposit. A lot of them actually are in different states. They're not in California. They're in different states. So as we open dealers in multiple states, we should be able to materialize some of the order books that we already had in the past years.
Brook Taylor (VP of Government Relations and Strategic Partnerships)
Thank you. Next question from the webcast from John Murphy of Bank of America. How much capital will be saved and efficiency gained by leveraging dealers, specifically in the U.S.?
Lê Thị Thu Thủy (Chairwoman of the Board of Directors)
I think initially, based on the calculation, initially, it's actually better initially to actually sell to the dealers instead of paying for CapEx, especially in this high interest rate environment, in order to follow the direct-to-consumer model. But I think that's only one of the benefits. I mean, margin is one of the benefits. The important benefits for opening the third-party dealership network is to be able to access the whole U.S. market. With the direct-to-consumer model, we could access only about half of the states in the U.S.
But with the dealership network, we can leverage existing dealership to be able to have products available in all states in the U.S.
Brook Taylor (VP of Government Relations and Strategic Partnerships)
... Thank you. Next question from the webcast, the expected timing for positive EBITDA and FCF?
Lê Thị Thu Thủy (Chairwoman of the Board of Directors)
Okay, I pass it on to Lan Anh.
Anh Nguyễn (CFO)
Yeah, so we expect that, we're gonna have the positive EBITDA on 2025, and for the cash flow positive in 2027. Thank you.
Brook Taylor (VP of Government Relations and Strategic Partnerships)
Thank you very much. Next question coming in from the webcast: Can you please disclose how much cash was raised under the Yorkville agreement during the quarter?
Lê Thị Thu Thủy (Chairwoman of the Board of Directors)
We used the facility extensively, so over $30 million is what we drew from the facility in Q4.
Brook Taylor (VP of Government Relations and Strategic Partnerships)
Thank you, and that is all the questions we have from the webcast.
Operator (participant)
Please proceed with any closing remarks.
Lê Thị Thu Thủy (Chairwoman of the Board of Directors)
So thank you very much for attending the first full year earnings call for VinFast. Again, thank you very much for your continued support. We have, as you have seen, gathered a lot of momentum in the past years, especially in 2023, the years of, you know, the first time that we listed, the first time that we went international, the first time that we had the full lineup of vehicles. We believe that we've done a lot of things that never been done in the industry, and we have gathered momentum to be ready for this year.
We believe that this year is gonna be a pivotal, important year for us, and we hope that you will continue supporting us. Thank you very much. Happy New Year! Happy Lunar New Year.
Operator (participant)
Thank you for your participation. This does conclude the program, and you may now disconnect. Everyone, have a great day.