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New luxury SUV from Vietnam
The new car world is more colorful than ever: now even a supplier from Vietnam is shaking up the industry. In 2022 he even wants to sell his premium-rated electric cars in Europe.
New luxury SUV from Vietnam
The emergence of electromobility is turning the global car market on its head. Like the proverbial mushrooms, new providers are constantly sprouting up. As a rule, these come from the USA or China, from where they then target the European market. But there are also interesting newcomers elsewhere. Like in Vietnam!
The company Vinfast is shaking up the industry there. It is the automotive arm of Vingroup, a conglomerate with around 40,000 employees that is controlled by the richest man in Vietnam.
European know-how
Vinfast relies on European know-how. At the top is former Opel CEO Michael Lohscheller. He is intended to drive expansion in Europe and the USA. The vehicles on offer (starting with the VF e35 and VF e36 SUVs) are – one might be tempted to say – purely electrically powered. The vehicles are in the upper middle class, and the company obviously wants to position itself as a self-confident premium brand. 5.4 billion US dollars were invested for this.
With the two new electric SUVs, Vinfast now wants to position itself as a new electric brand worldwide. They were created with the help of Pininfarina. “We plan to come to Europe in the fourth quarter of 2022,” says Michael Lohscheller, looking ahead, “initially to Germany, France and the Netherlands. Other European countries will then follow.” Pre-orders for both electric crossovers should be possible by the middle of next year.
By the way, the Vietnamese once manufactured scooters for their home market. Then the two models Vinfast Lux A 2.0 and Lux SA 2.0 were added, both licensed models of the BMW 5 Series and X5 models. By the way: Contacts are not only maintained with BMW and GM, Austrians, namely Magna Steyr and AVL List, are also on board as cooperation partners of the new car manufacturer.
All vehicles currently come from the young automobile factory in the Dinh Vu Industrial Park in Hai Phong, but production is also to be set up in the USA. The entry into battery production is also already underway: Vinfast and LG Chem have already founded a joint battery company called VLBP. The aim of the new company is to produce lithium-ion battery packs for its own electric models in Vietnam.
No dealers and no union
In Europe, Vinfast wants to do without a network of car dealers. Lohscheller is only planning central flagship stores in large cities where customers can experience the vehicles. If necessary, the vehicle is then delivered to the home and the technicians come to the customer's home for service and try to solve the problem there, as the head of the company already explained. When it comes to sales, the focus is more on brands like Tesla or Polestar than on traditional European manufacturers.
In any case, he has a competitive advantage: "In Vietnam, without unions, everything goes much faster. A new car is built here in 18 and not 48 months, people work six days a week and live near the factory," Lohscheller told German media about his first months in Vietnam. 6,000 people would build a factory on 135 hectares capable of producing 250,000 vehicles per year in just 15 months. Decisions would simply be made much faster. The prices of the vehicles are not yet known, but the manufacturer promises that they will be very competitive.