Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 17

ROAD READY
Vinfast needs to slow down
Startups are famous for moving quickly.
Vinfast may want to slow things down.
It was only 2019 when the
Vietnamese company built its first cars,
rebodied versions of gasoline BMWs
that became hits in its home market.
Vinfast speedily developed four electric
SUVs, including the inaugural VF8 that
SAE Media drove in southern California.
At the same time, a cargo ship docked
near San Francisco, carrying nearly
2,000 VF8s for customers in California
and Canada. The next day, Vinfast announced
plans to go public via a SPAC
merger. And Vinfast recently broke
ground on a $4 billion factory in North
Carolina, targeting 150,000 units of annual
capacity and more than 7,000 jobs.
The ambition is laudable, the pace
breathless. There's only one problem:
The VF8 is not ready for prime time.
Especially in a cutthroat U.S. market
where choices include the Ford
Mustang Mach-e, Kia EV6 and a Tesla
Model Y (with recent dramatic price
cuts), all of which make it harder for
even the best-designed, best-engineered
EVs to compete. It doesn't help
that Vinfast is a complete unknown.
The VF8's specs, spacious five-passenger
cabin and Pininfarina styling - which
borrows cupfuls of design cues from its
SUV neighbors - don't raise undue
alarms. With a traction motor at each
axle for standard AWD, the VF8 pumps
out a reasonable 349 hp and 369 lb-ft
(500 Nm) in Eco trim, and a robust 402
hp and 457 lb-ft (620 Nm) in the Plus
model. The latter helped the Vinfast zip
Detail of the VF8's
unique gearselector
interface.
through green-cloaked hills east of San
Diego, including a sub-5.5-sec. sprint to
60 mph (97 km/h). Among technical hat
tips to Tesla, there's a 15.6-in. (396-mm)
center touch screen and an energy-saving
heat pump.
With its 82 kWh Samsung lithium-ion
battery, this VF8 City Edition, which has
AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING
September 2023 17
AE Specialty Coating Systems Ad 0923.indd 1
8/10/23 1:10 PM
VINFAST

http://info.hotims.com/84497-709

Automotive Engineering - September 2023

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Automotive Engineering - September 2023

Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - CVR1
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - CVR2
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 1
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 2
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 3
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 4
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 5
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 6
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 7
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 8
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 9
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 10
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 11
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 12
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 13
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 14
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 15
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 16
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 17
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 18
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 19
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 20
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 21
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 22
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 23
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 24
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 25
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 26
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 27
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 28
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 29
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 30
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 31
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Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 33
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 34
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 35
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 36
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 37
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 38
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 39
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - 40
Automotive Engineering - September 2023 - CVR3
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