Remember VinFast, Vietnam’s first car manufacturer? Well, the company that builds re-bodied BMW 5 Series and X5 SUVs has ambitions that exceed Vietnam’s borders.
VinFast has announced it will start building its first electric cars next year and they will target the U.S. market. VinFast aims to debut its first electric model at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November 2020.
VinFast, a unit of Vietnam’s largest conglomerate Vingroup JSC, will use battery cells made by South Korea’s LG Chem, the company said in a statement to Reuters. “We expect to officially debut the model at the Los Angeles Auto Show in November 2020; launch a test program in January 2021 and mass produce the cars by July 2021,” reads the statement.
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VinFast’s first EV is designed by Italian design house Pininfarina and is said to travel up to 500 km (310 miles) on a full battery charge. In April 2019, LG Chem said it had set up a joint venture with VinFast to produce lithium-ion batteries for the carmaker’s electric scooters and vehicles.
According to Vietnam’s AutoDaily, the most powerful version will offer 300 kW (402 HP / 406 PS), with e-AWD most likely included. As for size, the electric SUV is slightly smaller than a C-segment model, making it a competitor for the Hyundai Kona Electric and Kia Niro EV.
No other information is available at the moment about the brand’s first EV but VinFast did show a fully-camouflaged prototype photographed on the streets of capital Hanoi. As with the BMW X5-based VinFast Lux, the electric SUV features split headlights and a similar glasshouse.
The Vietnamese company delivered 5,124 vehicles in its home market in the first quarter this year. The result put it in fifth place, ahead of brands like Mitsubishi, Mazda and Ford, according to state media. VinFast’s current lineup includes the Lux SA2.0 SUV, Lux A2.0 sedan and Fadil city car – a rebadged Opel Karl Rocks.