At CES 2022, Vietnam-based VinFast announced its new development strategy and revealed its complete electric vehicle lineup covering five segments.

VinFast said will stop producing vehicles with internal combustion engines (ICE) by the end of 2022. The company will instead focus research and development efforts on all-electric powertrains for their vehicles. This makes VinFast one of the world’s first automotive companies to switch completely to pure electric.

Along with the commitment to becoming an all-electric carmaker, VinFast officially launched a range of fully-electric vehicles:

• Three models in the A-B-C segments: VF 5 (segment A), VF 6 (segment B) and VF 7 (segment C); and

• Two models VF e35 and VF e36 in the D and E segments (introduced at the 2021 LA Auto Show, earlier post) now renamed as VF 8 and VF 9. The removal of the “e” (electric) prefix in the names affirms the company’s consistent all-electric orientation.

All five electric vehicles were designed by Pininfarina and Torino Design.

The VF 8 and VF 9 models will be equipped with Level 2+ Autonomous Driving features for the Eco and Plus versions and Levels 3 - 4 for Premium versions. These models will also have smart features, including Smart Home, Mobile Office, In-car Shopping, In-car Entertainment, and other convenient, advanced features.

The company also officially announced retail pricing and a reservation campaign for the VF 8 and VF 9 in the US, Europe and Vietnam.

• The initial price for the VF 8 is US$41,000 in the US; starting from €36,133 in Europe and 961 million VND in Vietnam.

• The VF 9 will initially be priced at US$56,000 USD; €49,280 (Europe) and 1.312 billion VND (Vietnam).

Each VinFast EV comes with a warranty of 10 years or the first 200,000 km (whichever comes first).

During the 3-month period from 5 January to 5 April 2022 (PST), VinFast will launch an exclusive membership program, called “VinFirst – Pioneer’s Gratitude to Pioneers”, offering early-bird reservation holders various rewards and benefits.

VinFast is the first electric car company to apply blockchain technology to receive orders and confirm ownership. There will be other future incentives for applicable customers in the US to join the VinFirst program. All early reservations can be refunded, gifted or transferred from 6 April 2022.

As well as sharing the pricing policy, VinFast announced an innovative battery lease program that will offer customers two subscription plans: “Flexible” (a minimum subscription fee for 300 miles/500 km per month, extra costs from the 301^st mile/501^st km) and “Fixed” (unlimited range). The total monthly cost for driving VinFast EVs is approximately equal to gasoline costs in each market. Furthermore, VinFast will cover all expenses on battery maintenance and will replace the owner’s used batteries for free when charging and discharging capacity falls below 70%.