Vietnamese electric-vehicle startup VinFast plans to open a U.S. factory after setting up a 50-member San Francisco research office as it prepares for California automobile sales in 2022.

VinFast, founded by billionaire Pham Nhat Vuong, began delivering gasoline autos to Vietnamese consumers with BMW-licensed engines in 2019. Vuong, who is also chairman of parent company Vingroup JSC, said late that year he would back the company’s U.S. ambitions with $2 billion of his own fortune.

The company plans to establish an automobile factory in the U.S., VinFast Chief Executive Officer Thai Thanh Hai said in an email response to questions, declining to provide details around timing or possible factory locations. The company is also planning sales in Canada and Europe next year.

“VinFast’s vision is to become a global smart electric car company and the U.S. market is one of the first international markets that we will focus on,” she said. “We initially will develop high-end models for the U.S.”

The North American car market won’t be an easy one to crack. Not only have big legacy carmakers like Ford Motor Co. and General Motors Co. been spending billions of dollars on electric cars, but investors have poured billions more into blank-check companies to take EV startups public via reverse mergers.

EV makers, many of which are yet to launch commercial products, have taken advantage of that. Nikola Corp. was the first high-profile one to go public via a SPAC listing, followed by others including Lucid Motors Inc., Lordstown Motors Corp., Fisker Inc., Canoo Inc., and Xos, a maker of electric commercial vehicles.

VinFast sold about 30,000 vehicles last year. The company forecasts sales of more than 45,000 units in 2021. It will begin delivery of EVs produced at its factory in the northern port city of Haiphong to domestic customers by December.

Consumers in Vietnam purchased 296,634 cars last year, according to the Vietnam Automobile Manufacturers’ Association. Hyundai Motor Co. was the leading brand, with sales of 81,368.

Hai said VinFast believes it can win over U.S. and other overseas customers leery of buying an automobile from a Vietnamese company they know little or nothing about by offering top-quality vehicles with high safety standards and advanced technology.

VinFast, which also produces electric motorbikes and electric buses, plans to open 35 California showrooms and service centers this year, she said. California regulators have granted VinFast a license to test autonomous vehicles on public streets. The company aims to deliver its first electric vehicles to U.S. customers next year.

Hai didn’t say how much the company will invest in the U.S. VinFast still expects to be profitable after five years of operation, though the global pandemic has “made things more difficult,” she said.

The VinFast R&D Institute, with offices in San Francisco, Australia and Vietnam, is working on autonomous automobile technology, according to Bui Hai Hung, head of VinAI Research, who oversees the company’s global research. VinAI and the research institute are developing autopilot features for cars planned for the U.S. market in 2022, he said.

VinFast plans to offer two electric luxury SUVs -- the VF32 and VF33 -- in the U.S., Canada and Europe. 

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Most of the Lucid Air’s specs have been announced. The company’s media strategy has been to release a new tidbit every week for the past month leading up to the actual unveiling. That way, instead of one story about a new car containing all the relevant information, you get nearly a dozen, each about its own separate feature.

It feels as if we already know a lot about this car even though today is its official public debut. Heck, The Verge went for a ride in an engineering prototype back in 2017.

Trim level and pricing are some of the newest bits of information, so let’s dive into that for a moment. There will be four versions of the Lucid Air: the base Air for $80,000 (minus tax credits); Air Touring for $95,000; Air Grand Touring at $139,000; and Air Dream Edition at a whopping $169,000 — each with its own range, performance specs, and charging estimates.

 

Like many EV makers, Lucid is hoping to replicate Tesla’s strategy of selling a lot of really expensive cars in the hopes of making enough money to eventually produce something more mass-market.

LUCID AIR LINEUP AT A GLANCE

Model	Price (USD	Est. EPA range (up to)	Horsepower	0-60 (seconds)	Quarter mile (sec) / speed (mph)	Top speed (mph)	Charging (miles/time via DC fast charging)	Peak charging speed	Availability
Air	$80,000	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	TBA	300/20 mins	1200 mph	2022
Air Touring	$95,000	406 miles	620	3.2	11.4/123	155	300/20 mins	1200 mph	Q4 2021
Air Grand Touring	$139,000	517 miles	800	3	10.8/133	168	300/20 mins	1200 mph	Q4 2021
Air Dream Edition	$169,000	465 miles (21" AeroDream wheels); 503 miles (19" wheels)	1,080	2.5	9.9/144	168	300/20 mins	1200 mph	Q4 2021

Another new feature is Amazon’s Alexa voice assistant will be natively integrated into the Air. That means drivers will be able to use Alexa to control the vehicle’s navigation, answer calls, change radio stations, and even link up with their Echo device at home.

Robust voice recognition is more than just a novelty, though. It can be a key element in reducing driver distraction. Being able to toggle between the directions, temperature, and Spotify while keeping my eyes on a road made me a better driver and reduced the likelihood that I’d swerve or let my attention wander. Smartphones and digital infotainment systems that invite a lot of scrolling or tapping are obvious distractions, and tech companies need to come up with better ways to mitigate that problem.

THE MOST STRIKING THING ABOUT THE AIR IS THAT IT’S A SEDAN

The most striking thing about the Air is that it’s a sedan. The US auto market is currently drowning in big, hulking vehicles, with SUV sales making up nearly 50 percent of all vehicles purchased in 2019. By 2025, experts predict light trucks and SUVs will make up over three-fourths of the US market. But Lucid isn’t going after those car buyers — at least not yet. 

Lucid isn’t the only EV maker to lead with a sedan. Volvo offshoot Polestar recently began delivering its impressively minimalist Polestar 2 sedan to customers in the US. But most new electric vehicles being released are in that light truck and SUV segment, from legacy automakers like Nissan and Cadillac, to new players like Rivian.

Lucid will obviously compete with the Model S. But to hear Rawlinson say it, Tesla is not the company’s primary target. The Lucid Air is for “someone who has an S-Class Mercedes who says: ‘Ten years ago, I wouldn’t have been that interested in electric. Tesla has piqued my interest, I love what Tesla is doing with electric, but I’m not getting out of my Mercedes for a Model S,’” he told Bloomberg in a recent interview.

Like many electric vehicle startups, Lucid Motors has experienced ups and downs. The Lucid Air was supposed to go into production in 2018, but the company ran into trouble lining up funding required to build its planned $700 million factories in Arizona. It spent much of 2017-2018 languishing until Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund came along.

“I think that we can be part of a movement that could catalyze change for good. That’s what I see,” Rawlinson said. “We have a partnership — which is very aligned — a partnership with the PIF. It’s a strategic partnership. They’re committed to helping us make this change to benefit all mankind. And it will benefit Saudi society.”

But the company is already working on its next vehicle, an SUV. The push to develop a second car is coming, in part, from Saudi Arabia, according to the people familiar with the company’s plans. Sales of larger cars and trucks are through the roof, and major automakers like Audi, Mercedes-Benz, have followed Tesla’s lead in developing all-electric SUVs.

An SUV is probably the least shocking next move for Lucid. Based on its price, the Lucid Air is bound to be a niche vehicle, sought by customers who likely already own an electric vehicle. In order to break out and achieve true Tesla-levels of success, the company will need to focus on bringing its prices down in order to make its vehicles accessible to a broader group of customers.

Source: TheVerge

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The compact car is proving a big hit for state-owned SAIC Motor, China's top automaker. The Hong Guang Mini EV is being built as part of a joint venture with US car giant General Motors (GM).

Last month sales of the budget electric car in China were around double those of Tesla, which was questioned this month over safety issues there.

While the $4,500 Hong Guang Mini is the most popular model, there is an upgraded one with air conditioning for just over $5,000. The cars are being marketed as "the people's commuting tool".

The joint venture partnership, SAIC-GM-Wuling, is known as Wuling locally.

Car experts have said that while it clearly lags well behind Tesla when it comes to its battery, range, and performance, its convenience and low price have made it one of China's bestselling "new-energy" vehicles.

Having launched last year, the basic model has a top speed of 100km/h (62mph) and can accommodate four people at a squeeze.

"China's government is serious about pollution reduction and becoming the global leader in adopting and promoting innovation of electric vehicles," Shaun Rein, managing director of the China Market Research Group, told the BBC.

"We remain very bullish on the adoption of budget EVs like the Hong Guang Mini to higher-end ones like NIO and Tesla."

To promote EVs, the Chinese government offers license plates for free and they are guaranteed. In many cities, it can take months, if not years, to get a license plate for a petrol engine through various auction systems.

Taking on Tesla

The Hong Guang Mini EV saw sales of 112,000 for the second half of 2020, ranking second behind Tesla's Model 3 which are made in its Shanghai factory.

Earlier this month five Chinese regulators summoned Tesla over quality and safety issues at its plant. China is Tesla's largest market after the US.

For January, Hong Guang Mini sales outstripped Tesla almost two-to-one. It is now believed to be the second-best-selling electric model worldwide behind the Model 3.

The tiny, all-electric EV sold 25,778 models in China in January according to the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA). This compares to 13,843 for the Tesla Model 3.

But high-end electric vehicles have still been performing well with Tesla more than doubling its sales volume in China last year.

The Model 3 sells for about $39,000 (£27,000) in China factoring in price cuts due to its local production.

The Hong Guang Mini EV could make an appearance outside China, as Wuling has said it plans to export the EV overseas.

"China has so many makers of small and cheap electric vehicles, however, most of them are low-quality and low-speed products that do not appeal to a wide market, said Sam Fiorani, at Auto Forecast Solutions.

"The Hong Guang Mini is the first time a major company has stepped up with a simple EV that targets buyers looking for a real car."

Reports have linked Wuling to a Latvian automaker who could sell a version of the car in Europe. However, the price is likely to be twice as high due to European environmental requirements.

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