While the EU is sufficiently concerned about the threat to its own car industry from Chinese EVs, so much so it’s considering hitting them with import tariffs, it doesn’t seem quite so concerned yet about similar vehicles coming from Vietnam. VinFast has just been granted European regulatory approval for its VF 8 electric SUV and plans to deliver the first vehicles to the continent before the end of 2023.
Around 3,000 examples of the Model Y-sized VF 8 will be shipped to Germany, France, and the Netherlands in the fourth quarter of 2023 from the firm’s plant in northern Vietnam, Reuters learned from an unnamed source, backing up plans previously revealed by Vinfast boss, Le Thi Thu Thuy.
The basic VF 8 Eco costs $50,990 in France, which looks expensive when you can buy a Model Y for €45,990, though the dual-motor VF 8’s claimed 293-mile (471 km) electric range is marginally better than the single-motor Y’s 283 miles (455 km) and its 5.5-second 0-62 mph (100 km/h) time is closer to the 5.5 seconds achieved by the Dual-Motor, Lond Range Model Y (€52,990) than the 6.9 seconds of the base car.
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Chinese EVs expected in the coming years are likely to be cheaper again, but if the EU does conclude that exported Chinese EVs gain an unfair competitive advantage by receiving state aid not available to European brands and decides to apply tariffs (which could also affect some Teslas), VinFast’s SUVs could find themselves in a great position to tempt EU-based buyers.
Though they’ll only be tempted if they haven’t read the damning reviews of the VF 8 from American reviewers, or if VinFast has somehow managed to fix the grievances those U.S. testers aired. The VF 8 was mauled in print and online for everything from weird noises to a hard ride, uncomfortable seats, a frustrating infotainment system, and a short driving range.
No new car in recent memory has received such a savaging, and while VinFast claims it has software fixes for some of those bugs, not all of the issues are the kind that can be remedied with a few strokes of a keyboard. Unsurprisingly, U.S. sales have fallen below Vinfast’s expectations, with just 128 cars being registered in the first five months of this year.
Source: Reuters