Posted on 10/31/2023 10:36:15 AM PDT by Red Badger
The sub-$20,000 tiny EV could have potential for the U.S. as a city car targeting budget-minded Americans, VinFast adviser says.
Vietnamese automaker VinFast is reportedly considering adding a fifth vehicle to its planned U.S. lineup, and it's a very unlikely choice – the VF3 mini crossover.
Designed for the Vietnamese market, the VinFast VF3 could have potential for the U.S. market as a sub-$20,000 city car targeting budget-minded Americans, VinFast representatives told Automotive News.
First shown in June, the VinFast VF3 is a boxy, high-riding two-door vehicle that measures just 122.6 inches in length, making it some 10 inches shorter than the similar Baojun Yep co-developed by GM with its Chinese partners SAIC and Wuling.
The company did not reveal details about the vehicle's electric motor and battery, but said the VF3 offers "impressive travel distance" tailored to the needs and daily usage patterns of most Vietnamese drivers. Given its size and market positioning, the VF3 likely features a single-motor, two-wheel-drive powertrain.
Despite the fact that the VF3 is so small, it is said to have won over prospective VinFast dealers in the U.S., who are apparently urging the automaker to import it as a low-end EV model.
VinFast said it is "researching the demand and potential for the VF3 model in the U.S., following the positive responses from our dealers." The company added that "further details will be announced in due course."
Vietnam's first automaker recently announced a shift from being a direct-to-consumer brand to a hybrid retail model that also includes franchised dealerships.
The carmaker is currently in the process of selecting dealers across the USA; it said in a regulatory filing that it has recruited 27 dealers in a dozen states to sell its EVs after holding meetings with dealers.
Duke Hale, an adviser to the automaker, told Automotive News that VinFast brought an actual-size foam model of the VF3 to two meetings with prospective dealers last month, one in Tampa, Florida, and one in Dallas, Texas.
The dealers that attended the events, about 100 of them, were nearly unanimous in wanting the VF3 for the US market, Hale said. "They liked the whole lineup but the VF3, I would say, got an almost 100 percent response," he said. "They really liked the VF3 and the reason is it's probably sub-$20,000."
VinFast has not announced a price for the VF3 in Vietnam but said it will be accessibly priced to appeal to the masses. The automaker said the tiny EV has the potential to become the new "national vehicle" for the Vietnamese people. Sales of the VF3 in Vietnam are expected to start next year, with deliveries to begin in the third quarter of 2024.
The brand's cheapest vehicle in Vietnam at the moment is the larger, subcompact VF6 that starts around $28,000. If it makes it to the U.S. with a sub-$20,000 MSRP, the VinFast VF3 would become America's cheapest EV by far.
VinFast has so far confirmed four models for the U.S. market, all crossovers: the mid-size VF8 that's already on sale in California, the slightly larger three-row VF9 that starts at $83,000, the VF6 subcompact, and the VF7 compact. The automaker is building a factory in North Carolina to produce some of these vehicles.
VIDEO AT LINK.......................
By the time the government gets it weighed down with all the required safety stuff, it won’t be cheap and it won’t be lightweight.
It looks like a Ford Bronco Mini-Me.
Be kinda cool if the hardtop would come off.
That’s an expensive golf cart!
I guess it would sell some among the two-seater buyers. But that’s assuming it stays at $20K. Most of the times a new car is showcased before it comes to market, by the time it comes to market the real starting price is much higher than the one touted in the months of teaser ads.
I understand the spontaneous fires are much smaller . . .
Looks like a Tonka.
Maybe get Hanoi Jane as the national spokesperson?
IOW, not a chance in hell.
It probably does........but not intentionally.................
>> [The hardtop] probably does [come off]........but not intentionally.................
Rolling over
on the floor laughing!
Electric vehicle fires are rare—the risk for petrol and diesel vehicles is at least 20 times higher, says researcher
Australian firm EV FireSafe tracks passenger electric vehicle battery fires worldwide. From 2010 to June 2023, its database records only 393 verified fires globally, out of some 30 million electric vehicles on the road.
Australia recorded only four electric vehicle battery fires over the same period. One was linked to arson. The other three vehicles were parked in structures that burned down and destroyed the vehicles. So it appears these fires didn’t start in the batteries.
https://techxplore.com/news/2023-09-electric-vehicle-rarethe-petrol-diesel.html
>> Looks like a Tonka.
Well, it ships out of the Gulf of Tonka, right?
save on funeral costs, when you get ran over by an 18 wheeler, you can be put in the ground in it.
If our social-engineering Fed.gov eliminated its various woke/prog mandates, US companies (unlikely it would be legacy producers Ford or GM) would produce cheap, safe and highly efficient cars that lasted for hundreds of thousands of miles.
I just got a renewal on my Driver’s License for 5 years. I will be 90, when my current license retires.
We are down to one car. My wife’s 20 year old Lexus, and it still runs great for the minimal driving we do.
If it dies, and there is no available good used vehicle from family, friends or neighbors to buy.
This might be a good option.
Ultra Cheap VinFast VF3 Mini EV Considered For U.S. Lineup: Report [Vietnamese]
Jalopnik on How The Cheapest Electric Car In The World Held Up After 1 Year
The Chinese Changli.
I’d need to see the NHTSA crash test videos first. The first gen of Chinese vehicles were LAUGHABLY bad.
For trips to the store, this might be perfect. (No freeways, etc.)
Picture Bob Parr of The Incredibles(2004) in his little blue car
should be fun to drive this toy, which has a wheelbase smaller than a sheet of plywood, on the Interstate at 85mph!
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