VinFast will drop BMW copies in favor of electric vehicles

VinFast, the first national automaker in Vietnam , at the Consumer Electronics Show 2022 (CES) held in Las Vegas, showed demonstration layouts of three promising models at once – the VF5 (e32) subcompact hatchback and the VF6 (e36) and VF7 (e34P) compact crossovers. 

All of these are the prototypes of the upcoming electric vehicles. VinFast decided to connect its future with this type of transport, since the rate on licensed modifications of the old gasoline BMW 5-Series and BMW X5 was not commercially justified – the cars turned out to be too expensive, the demand for them is low.

VF5

VinFast Variants

The first electric car model – the compact crossover VF e34 – has been produced by VinFast since 2021, but it is sold only in Vietnam.

In the VF5, VF6 and VF7 dummies, the automaker is showing what looks the new electric cars will get for series production. Their exteriors are made in the same style – laconic and modern. In front, the family element has become two light “wings” diverging from the corporate emblem. The lanterns are made in the same manner at the back.

No technical information about the machines has been disseminated, however there are approximate data on their length. Similar in proportion to the old Suzuki Alto VF5, it has a length of about 3.6 m, in the VF6 from nose to tail about 4.2 m (comparable to the Lada XRAY ), in the VF7 – 4.4 m (about the same for the Kia Seltos ).

VF6

VinFast intends to completely abandon the production of cars with internal combustion engines at the end of 2022, that is, those same BMW copies will soon retire.

Despite the historically strained relations between socialist Vietnam and the United States, VinFast wants to direct its expansion primarily to the US market. Moreover, two factories will be built in the USA – a car assembly plant and a battery plant. Le Thi Thu Thuy, VinFast’s export director, spoke about this in an interview with Reuters .

VF7

While the company is building a battery plant in its native Vietnam, the investment in the project is $ 174 million, the production volume is 100,000 batteries per year.

Now VinFast is also busy preparing the production of the e35 (compact) and e36 (large) electric crossovers  – their prototypes were shown in 2021.

Dinesh: Dinesh Kumar has been writing about electric vehicles, hybrids, and hydrogen cars since 2006. His articles and car reviews have appeared in the New York Times, Automotive News, Reuters, SAE, Autoblog, InsideEVs, Trucks.com, Car Talk, and other outlets. His first green-car media event was the launch of the Tesla Roadster, and since then he has been tracking the shift away from gasoline-powered vehicles and discovering the new technology's importance not just for the auto industry, but for the world as a whole. Throw in the recent shift to autonomous vehicles, and there are more interesting changes happening now than most people can wrap their heads around. You can find him on Twitter or, on good days, behind the wheel of a new EV.