For a price, Vietnamese maker VinFast expects its new VF9 will appeal to a rising market for three-row, all-electric SUVs when it arrives in North America by the end of the year. The VF9 “Eco” version has a starting price of $83,000. Consider, however, that the business revealed this week that the Eco trim gained 330 miles of certified EPA range and the $91,000 Plus trim received 291 miles. The statistics exceeded the earlier projections of 272 and 262 miles, respectively.
The VF9, developed by the iconic Italian manufacturer Pininfarina, has already been delivered to customers in the Vietnamese market and is now available for bookings worldwide. The Ford and Rivian SUVs have electric motors and an AWD powertrain with 402 horsepower.
The base Eco and Plus trims will have Level 2 autonomy developed in collaboration with ZF. Driver assistance technology will feature adaptive cruise control with traffic congestion help, lane-keeping assist, and automatic lane change. The smaller VF8 and VF9 vehicles were unveiled at the Los Angeles Auto Show in 2021. At the time, the VF9’s initial price was expected to be around $56,000. Last year, the automaker announced an initial investment of up to $2 billion in a new production facility in Chatham County, North Carolina, with an annual capacity of about 150,000 all-electric vehicles. The construction of the facility began in July.
