VinFast, the Vietnamese automotive company established in 2017, announced that the first batch of its US-bound VF 8 electric cars will get to customers starting late February 2023, after the vehicles will have their software updates.
The story comes via Automotive News, which writes that the young car company has secured 55,000 orders globally for its EVs as of December last year, 12,000 of which are from the United States.
"The cars have been updated with the latest software. We are planning to hand over the first VF8 vehicle models to customers in the second half of February," VinFast said in a statement quoted by Automotive News.
The Vietnamese carmaker started shipping its initial batch of 999 VF 8 units in November 2022, with the goal of getting some of those cars to customers by the end of the year. However, this has now changed.
The company added in its statement that "the second batch will be shipped to the U.S. in the second quarter of 2023," without specifying how many cars will reach American shores.
VinFast launched two all-electric models on the US market – the VF 8 five-seater crossover, which starts at $59,000, and the VF 9 three-row SUV, which has an MSRP of $83,000. Both offer all-wheel drive and benefit from a 10-year or 125,000-mile warranty which includes the battery, according to the carmaker’s website.
Gallery: VinFast VF 8 and VF 9 electric SUVs
The company plans on selling two additional, smaller EVs in the United States, the VF 6 subcompact and VF 7 compact, with early reservations scheduled to begin in March 2023 and deliveries by the end of the year. With these two models, VinFast’s lineup will grow to four cars only a year after the launch of its first product States-side.
The automaker also wants to build an EV plant in North Carolina, which would qualify its models for the current federal tax credits offered to US-made electric vehicles, and is awaiting final regulatory approval from local officials. VinFast pledged to invest $4 billion in the new battery and EV plant in Chatham County and plans on making the VF 8 and VF 9 SUVs there, with production expected to begin in July 2024.
