Vietnamese automaker VinFast moved a step closer to its U.S. debut over the weekend, delivering the first of its all-electric VF 8 SUVs to domestic customers.
The startup, based along the port of Haiphong, plans to begin shipping both the midsize VF 8 and larger VF 9 EVs to the U.S. market by the end of this year. But the automaker hopes to take advantage of revised American EV incentives by setting up an assembly line and battery plant at a site in North Carolina.
“The first batch of 5,000 VF 8 units will be for U.S. and North American markets,” VinFast’s global chief executive Le Thi Thu Thuy told Reuters during a rollout ceremony at the automaker’s Haiphong manufacturing complex Saturday.
“Big ambitions”
VinFast was formed in 2017, Vietnamese entrepreneur Pham Nhat Vuon, who owns a variety of different businesses — including shopping centers, hospitals, resorts and schools — through the VinFast Group. It initially launched production two years later, building a modified version of the gas-powered X5 SUV licensed from BMW.
At the 2021 Los Angeles Auto Show, VinFast officials announced a shift in direction, revealing two all-electric prototypes that were later named the VF 8 and VF 9. At the Consumer Electronics Show this past January, VinFast revealed three additional EVs, at least two of which it eventually plans to bring to the U.S.
“We are a young company but we have big ambitions,” Pham told TheDetroitBureau.com during a press conference in Vietnam last April.
VF 8 and VF 9 — by the numbers
While the basic technology of the VF 8 and VF 9 models were developed in-house, Italian design studio Pininfarina developed the basic styling which was then refined by VinFast’s styling chief Dave Lyons.
The larger of the two models, the VF 9, measures 201.5 inches in length, with a 124-inch wheelbase. That lands right between the Hyundai Palisade and the R1S, the all-electric SUV from startup Rivian. The VF 8 is 187 inches in length with a 116.1-inch wheelbase.
The VF 9 will be offered in some markets with a front-wheel-drive package. American buyers will only have access to an all-wheel-drive version using separate motors on the front and rear axles. VinFast officials say they will make a combined 402 horsepower and 472 pound-feet of torque, enough to launch from 0 to 60 in 6.5 seconds.
Similarly, Vietnamese and European versions of the VF 8 will be offered as a front-wheel-drive version of the smaller VF 8, though, all packages bound for the U.S. will feature a twin-motor all-wheel-drive system. The base Eco package detunes the motors to a combined 260 kW — 348 hp and 368 lb-ft of torque. The Plus model boosts output to a combined 300 kW, or 402 hp, and 457 lb-ft of torque.
Pricing
The VinFast VF 8 will start at $42,200 when it goes on sale in the U.S., the VF 9 at $57,500. But that’s before factoring in the batteries. In a unique move, VinFast plans to lease the packs in the two models, promising to replace them if there’s a problem — whether a pack failure or just a significant decline in range.
On the VF 8, the basic lease plan comes in at $35 a month and covers up to 310 miles of free use each month. Motorists who go above that will pay an additional 11 cents per mile. The alternative is an all-you-can-drive plan running $110 a month. With the VF 9, the base option will be $44 a month, with a free 310 miles of use each month. After that, owners will pay 15 cents for each additional mile. The alternative is an all-you-can-drive package at $160 a month.
While that approach has generated plenty of controversy, it works for Nguyen Khac Chung, one of the first customers. He took delivery of his VF 8 at the weekend ceremony, several months ahead of his original plan.
“Battery leasing is an advantage for customers,” he told Reuters. “Why should we buy (a) battery?”
Long-term plans
So far, VinFast has claims to have lined up 65,000 advance orders in Vietnam, the U.S. and other markets. Its goal is to be selling 750,000 annually by 2026 — about the time it hopes to open its new U.S. manufacturing complex. The facility, which could eventually cost as much as $6 billion, is targeted to have a production capacity of 150,000 EV SUVs annually. But VinFast also wants to produce electric buses at the site.
The company announced in July it was able to raise $4 billion in funding. It eventually hopes to generate additional cash through an IPO. But that move has been put on hold until at least 2023 due to global economic concerns.