Vietnamese car brand VinFast has unveiled five new models at CES in Las Vegas. All fully electric. In order to ‘conquer’ Europe, the company is also looking for a suitable factory in Germany.
With the rise of electric cars, we see new car brands emerging all over the world, but some are growing noticeably faster than others. The Vietnamese VinFast, founded in 2017, is one of the runners. The brand is not really new, it has been making petrol cars for a while, which are technically based on (old) BMWs. But the brand is now switching completely to electric transport and is leaving the ICE era behind at CES. At the CES (Consumer Electronic Show) in Las Vegas, the brand unveiled no less than five new models. The names are easy to remember: VF 5, VF 6, VF 7, VF 8, and VF 9. We had already become acquainted with the VF 8 and 9, which were previously called e35 and e36. Our Frank Jacobs showed this to you earlier.
Vinfast
Model Names
But because the entire range of the brand is now electric, VinFast no longer finds the e-designation necessary and those cars have been given a new name. All five cars are SUVs, from the compact segment to the D segment, with the VF 9 in short, the seven-seater of the VF 8. We don’t have much information about the specs of all cars yet, but the VF 9 gets at least up to 408 hp and a 106 kWh battery. The brand also claims to participate well when it comes to autonomous driving, all models would technically be good for level 3 autonomous. Moreover, VinFast itself repeatedly mentions a premium experience, so it is not necessarily aimed at the lower end of the market. All cars also receive a 10-year / 200,000 kilometer warranty. The first models should also be delivered in Europe in the fourth quarter of this year. In view of the large electric car market, the Netherlands is part of the plan, an importer has not yet been announced.
There are currently more new car brands with EVs and a lot of ambition, but VinFast clearly wants to switch quickly. For example, the brand (which is part of Vingroup, the largest company in Vietnam) has opened a new battery production factory in its own country, good for 100,000 battery packs per year. This is quickly expanded to 1,000,000 per year.
In addition, the brand is actively looking for a place to produce cars in Germany. “The era of shipping cars around the world is over. To win customers, as a car brand you have to ensure a factory close to the relevant market,” says Le Thi Thu Thuy, the brand’s new CEO and vice president of the Vingroup. “We are confident that we will conquer a place in the European market, because the transition to electrically powered cars in Europe is well underway, is clear as a matter of fact.” A term for the new factory has not yet been announced, but as soon as we have more specifications of the five new models, you will of course read it here.
– Thanks for information from Autoweek.nl