VinFast Announces New U.S. Dealers Across Several States

by Chris Teague

Published: April 24th, 2024

vinfast announces new u s dealers across several states

VinFast has had several early bumps in the road, but the Vietnamese automaker appears to be hitting its stride in at least one area. The company recently announced an expansion to its U.S. dealer network, giving it stores in several new areas and growing its footprint to 18 dealerships in seven states.

VinFast added 12 stores, with new dealerships in Connecticut and Kentucky, five new locations in Florida, and four in Texas. With 18 stores in seven states and its corporate dealers in California, VinFast now has a surprisingly robust U.S. retail footprint, though it’s still unclear how the early reviews will affect sales of its EVs at the new locations.

Though the automaker has a range of vehicle offerings in Vietnam, its only model on sale in the U.S. is the VF 8 SUV. Deliveries have been slow to start in 2024, with only 448 new registrations in the first two months of the year. It only managed 265 in all of 2023, though that was likely due to delays in the rollout and early hiccups with the vehicle’s tech.

VinFast’s North Carolina factory will be up and running by next year and is expected to start production by the end of 2025. If the automaker meets other requirements for federal tax incentives, the domestic output would qualify its vehicles for up to $7,500 in credits at the time of sale.

The VF 8 has struggled to break ground in the increasingly crowded EV market, as spotty reviews have highlighted deficiencies with its tech, ride quality, and driver assistance features. That said, the price isn’t terrible by current EV standards, starting at $47,200 with leases at $429 monthly. Leasing EVs can also be a loophole in the federal tax credit rules, making the VF 8 slightly more attractive for buyers.

[Image: VinFast]

Become a TTAC insider. Get the latest news, features, TTAC takes, and everything else that gets to the truth about cars first by subscribing to our newsletter.

#VinFast #vinfastvf8 #EVTaxCredits

Chris Teague

Chris grew up in, under, and around cars, but took the long way around to becoming an automotive writer. After a career in technology consulting and a trip through business school, Chris began writing about the automotive industry as a way to reconnect with his passion and get behind the wheel of a new car every week. He focuses on taking complex industry stories and making them digestible by any reader. Just don’t expect him to stay away from high-mileage Porsches.

More by Chris Teague

Comments

Join the conversation

3 of 20 comments

28-Cars-Later on Apr 25, 2024

"The VF 8 has struggled to break ground in the increasingly crowded EV market, as spotty reviews have highlighted deficiencies with its tech, ride quality, and driver assistance features. That said, the price isn’t terrible by current EV standards, starting at $47,200 with leases at $429 monthly."

In a not so surprising turn of events, VinFast US has already gone bankrupt.

Like Reply
TheEndlessEnigma on Apr 26, 2024

Poor planning here, dropping a Vinfast dealer in Pensacola FL is just not going to work. I love Pensacola and that part of the Gulf Coast, but that area is by no means an EV adoption demographic.

2 Reply
- CrackedLCD on Apr 29, 2024
  
  That was my thought as well. Pensacola itself could be considered a bit progressive but it's surrounded by a vastly larger conservative rural and naval-led area. Them and Bowling Green are definite "WTF?" choices.
  
  1

Recent Comments

Redapple2 HK: The Redapple is the TTAC resident HK hater. I have listed the reasons before. But, I am smart enough to keep my eyes open. I will say this. Overall, they have the best styling/design in autodum. I may not like certain models, but overall, they try. They try something new, different, fresh. Some models are great. Some so-so. But they are TRYING- All the time. Year after year. Other brands are locked into a firm theme - across multiple models and brands. Some lasting decades EX. Evil gm vampire Cadillac Arts and Science has been around for 22 years. Flawed fugly from the start. Never got better.
SCE to AUX This is the right direction for EVs, but I can't warm up to Kia's latest styling.This is bad news for Rivian, whose similarly-specced R3 isn't due until 2027 or something.Perhaps a low-spec version will start at $30k (maybe), but the 300-mile version with trimmings will certainly run closer to $50k. Then everyone will say Kia lied.
Buickman foolishness has no bounds, or borders.
JMII Wonder what the Hyundai version will look like because I am NOT a fan of this styling.Also someone needs to explain to H/K/G that you want the dark colored interior parts were you touch/sit and the lighter color parts elsewhere. For example the door panels here are dark with light armrests - this is backwards. Genesis made the same mistake in the GV60's white/ash (grey) interior. While I greatly appreciate something other then the dreaded black cave interior did they not consider how impossible this will be to keep clean in the real world?
JMII I see lots of ads for their CUVs but given the competition in this segment why would I buy an Outlander over a similar product from Toyota, Honda or Hyundai? Mitsubishi needs to offer something compelling, some hook or defining difference. I don't think I've encountered a single person who says "wow have you seen the new [blank] from Mitsubishi? I need to get me one of those".I owned a Mitsubishi Eclipse GS-T back in '96 and it was fun car. Mitsubishi once made interesting choices with a rally heritage - those cars were fast and pretty high tech at the time. Like Nissan they kind of fell into the we will finance anyone pool so other then an Evo as a track toy anyone I knew steered clear of them.