VinFast Cuts Half Its Canadian Showrooms as EV Market Cools

Rachel Dillin

Sun, Jun 8, 2025, 11:38 PM 2 min read

VinFast, the Vietnamese EV startup that set out to challenge Tesla with a sleek direct-to-consumer model, is pulling back — and hard. This week, the company confirmed it will shut down half of its retail locations in Canada, just two and a half years after entering the market.

VinFast launched into Canada in late 2022 with big promises: a sleek, direct-to-consumer electric-vehicle model meant to rival Tesla. Within months, the Vietnamese company opened 10 showrooms across Ontario, Quebec, and British Columbia—five of them within upscale shopping malls like Yorkdale and Park Royal. But as of May 2025, half of those stores are set to close, marking a sharp reversal of its aggressive rollout.

Five of its 10 Canadian storefronts are on the chopping block, including all three of its boutique mall locations and two additional showrooms in outlying areas, according to Retail Insider. The move marks a major pivot for the company, which had positioned itself as a disruptor ready to overhaul the traditional car-buying experience.

“VinFast Canada is announcing the closure of our three boutique mall locations and two showrooms in outlying areas as part of a broader strategy to refocus resources and enhance long-term performance,” the company said in a statement.

The closures reflect mounting pressure on EV startups as the market cools and interest rates rise. While legacy automakers double down on hybrid models, newer players are struggling to stay competitive. VinFast opened its first Canadian store in December 2022 at Toronto’s Yorkdale Mall, mirroring Tesla’s showroom-style retail playbook.

But plans to scale have sputtered. VinFast said it will maintain five showrooms in British Columbia, Ontario, and Quebec. One survivor: the Mississauga location near Highway 401.

The company says it will announce an expanded after-sales service network later this year and is “considering” franchise dealer partnerships — a potential departure from its original direct-sales ethos.

This contraction comes as other EV upstarts also face reality checks. Hype alone won’t power growth. Even with global ambitions and a backstory rooted in one of Vietnam’s biggest conglomerates, VinFast is learning the hard way: building cars is tough. Selling them might be even tougher.

Related: Tesla Pushes Hard with New Incentives as Sales Slip

VinFast Cuts Half Its Canadian Showrooms as EV Market Cools first appeared on Men's Journal on Jun 9, 2025