More VinFast electric vehicles arrive in US

Vietnamese carmaker VinFast's second batch of electric vehicles (EV) to the U.S market arrived at the Port of Benicia in California on Friday, U.S. time.

The second shipment comprises 1,879 VF 8 SUVs. The VF 8 has a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-certificated range of 264 miles for the Eco trim and 243 miles for the Plus trim per full charge.

VinFast expects to begin deliveries of these electric SUVs to U.S. customers this June.

The firm said the newly-arrived vehicles have a longer battery range than the initial batch of 999 VF 8 City Edition vehicles shipped to the U.S. last year.

The VF 8 Eco and Plus pricing will start at $46,000 and $51,800 respectively (battery inclusive), and have both lease and loan options.

Qualified customers can lease the VF 8 with a minimum term of 36 months, and monthly payments start at $479/month for the Eco trim and $614/month for the Plus trim. With the loan option, qualified customers may choose a minimum term of 60 months with monthly payments, VinFast said.

In addition, from this May, qualified customers who lease the VF 8 City Edition may be eligible to transition to the VF 8 with the same trim (Eco or Plus) after 12 months under the lease. The continuing lease term will be 24 months with the same lease payments as the original lease.

The VF 8 comes with a 10-year warranty/125,000 miles for the vehicle, 10-year warranty for the battery (unlimited mileage), mobile services, and 24/7 emergency roadside assistance during the vehicle warranty period.

“After more than four months of exporting the first batch to the U.S. market, VinFast continues to bring new options to U.S. customers,” said VinFast chairwoman Le Thi Thu Thuy.

VinFast has received an EPA Certificate of Conformity (COC) to import and sell vehicles in the U.S., an executive order from the California Air Resources Board (CARB) that allows vehicle deliveries to customers in California and 14 other states and Washington, D.C. that have adopted CARB rules. VinFast has also complied with all applicable Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) issued by the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA).

VinFast will initially deliver 1,098 of the VF 8 vehicles to the U.S. market and then deliver the remaining 781 VF 8 vehicles to Canada, which expects to arrive by mid-May 2023.