Vietnamese giant selling Chinese electric cars reduces losses, announces survival plan

Chinese electric vehicle giant TMT Motors announced positive results from its restructuring process, aiming to escape accumulated losses in the context of the auto market going through its most difficult period in nearly a decade.

TMT Motors Joint Stock Company (TMT Motors), a company that has recently become prominent in the distribution of Chinese electric vehicles, has just announced a report explaining its business results for the third quarter of 2025 and the situation of overcoming accumulated losses in 2024, as well as plans and roadmaps to overcome negative after-tax profits.

According to a document signed by TMT Motors Chairman Bui Van Huu, in the third quarter of 2025, TMT Motors recorded a consolidated profit after tax of nearly VND 1.88 billion, compared to a loss of nearly VND 92.8 billion in the same period last year. The company's profit reached a positive figure thanks to a 10% increase in consolidated revenue to nearly VND 387 billion; a decrease in cost of goods sold; an increase in financial revenue; and a slight decrease in selling expenses and business management expenses.

However, by the end of the third quarter of 2025, TMT Motors still recorded an accumulated loss of more than VND213 billion. In the first 9 months of this year, the company still achieved a profit after tax of VND56.8 billion thanks to the strong restructuring process that started in 2024, reducing expectations for cheap Chinese electric cars.

TMT Motors' third-quarter business results were quite positive in the context of the automobile market being in its most difficult period in nearly a decade, when many businesses distributing from luxury cars to popular cars simultaneously reported losses. Hang Xanh Auto Service Joint Stock Company (HAX), the largest authorized Mercedes-Benz distributor in Vietnam, reported a loss of VND26 billion in the third quarter of 2025 (9-month profit of more than VND1 billion, down 99% over the same period); Giai Phong Auto lost nearly VND11 billion.

Wuling Hongguang MiniEV model. Photo: TMT

However, TMT Motors still faces many challenges in improving revenue and eliminating accumulated losses in the context of weak purchasing power and increasingly fierce price competition between domestic, Japanese, Korean and Chinese brands. Financial costs, premises and labor are still a big burden.

Currently, TMT Motors shares are still under warning due to negative undistributed profits and are not yet available for margin trading according to HoSE's announcement.

To escape the loss situation, TMT Motors plans to continue maintaining sales growth momentum, optimize product structure; strengthen inventory management, ensure effective capital circulation and reduce costs.

Reduce direct confrontation with VinFast

TMT Motors recorded a 10% increase in revenue in the third quarter compared to the same period last year thanks to promoting the sale of light trucks under 10 tons and focusing on Euro 5 cars with good quality and competitive prices.

The company has encountered difficulties when entering the electric vehicle sector since 2023, focusing on manufacturing, assembling and distributing the famous and cheap Chinese electric vehicle model, Wuling Hongguang MiniEV, in the Vietnamese market. These are small electric vehicles considered to be competitors of VinFast VF3 - the "favorite" car of billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong.

From the last quarter of 2023, TMT Motors began to suffer continuous losses, culminating in a loss of nearly VND 123 billion in the fourth quarter of 2024, after losing more than VND 100 billion in the second quarter and about VND 93 billion in the third quarter of the same year due to selling below cost price, too high financial costs, and large inventories.

The continuous losses have wiped out all the accumulated profits of many years. This is a setback in business operations, leading to a decline in financial health.

The Chinese electric car giant will lose more than half of its charter capital by the end of 2024, due to "general economic difficulties, frozen real estate, inflation risks, people tightening spending..." causing car consumption to decrease sharply.

In fact, the sale of Chinese electric cars will face many difficulties in 2023-2024 in the context of a general decline in car consumption. The business plan of the low-cost Chinese electric car model Wuling Hongguang MiniEV did not meet expectations.

Wuling Hongguang MiniEV is a small electric vehicle produced by the joint venture General Motors (USA) - SAIC (China) - Wuling (China). This was the world's best-selling small car for 4 consecutive years (2020-2023).

With a selling price of only 239 million VND/car, in 2023, TMT only sold 591 Wuling Hongguang MiniEV electric cars, much lower than the plan (more than 5,500 cars).

Recently, TMT Motors has focused on building an electric vehicle charging station system.

In June, TMT Motors announced the change of name of its subsidiary from TMT Electric Vehicle Charging Station Investment and Trading JSC with a capital of 100 billion VND to Vietnam Charging Station Investment JSC (VN Egreen) after 1 month of establishment. Chairman of the Board of Directors of VN Egreen is Mr. Bui Van Huu - who is also Chairman of the Board of Directors of TMT Motors.

The company aims to invest in at least 30,000 charging stations (equivalent to 60,000 charging guns) by 2030, with a capacity of 7kW-240kW, capable of charging both electric cars and electric motorbikes. TMT's charging stations are designed to be compatible with all electric vehicle models of different manufacturers.

In mid-October, TMT Motors also sent an open letter inviting cooperation in sharing 30,000 CCS2 charging points with manufacturers, assemblers and importers of electric cars and motorbikes in Vietnam.

TMT Motors also announced an ecosystem from mini electric cars to electric motorbikes, and revealed plans to build a super-fast electric vehicle battery swapping station. TMT Motors plans to launch 5 electric motorbike models in the fourth quarter of 2025, targeting users who frequently travel in urban areas such as students, technology drivers, delivery staff, etc.

In 2025, TMT plans to have net revenue of more than VND 3,838 billion and after-tax profit of VND 270 billion.

Vietnamese tycoon selling Chinese cars was punished for violations. The big Chinese electric car distributor in Vietnam - TMT Automobile (TMT Motors) was punished for violations according to the decision of the Ho Chi Minh City Stock Exchange (HoSE).

Source: https://vietnamnet.vn/ong-lon-viet-ban-xe-dien-trung-quoc-bot-lo-cong-bo-ke-hoach-song-con-2460878.html