► Meet new car maker VinFast
► Vietnam’s first volume brand
► LUX A2.0 saloon and LUX SA2.0 SUV
This is our first look at an all-new car brand from Vietnam: VinFast. The new brand has used the 2018 Paris motor show to introduce itself to the wider world and has announced two new cars expected to go on sale in 2019.
It might sound like a diet supplement made from wine, but VinFast is the first volume car maker to come out of the southeast Asian country. It has revealed the LUX A2.0 saloon and LUX SA2.0 SUV models (catchy names, right?) that, according to the new brand, have been designed via public vote by the people of Vietnam and finished off with design input from Pininfarina.
The new cars are using platforms developed by the Austrian engineering fortress that is Magna Steyr, the facility that also helps to build more bespoke and low-volume cars like the Mercedes G-Class. The platforms use fully independent suspension front and rear (double wishbone front, multi-link rear) and the platforms are built using a mix of materials. The SUV will use both rear- and all-wheel drive powertrain configurations.
Two versions of a newly-developed 2.0-litre turbo petrol engine will be used – 174bhp and 228bhp. VinFast is expecting the saloon to reach 62mph in 8.9sec and 7.1sec respectively.
These aren’t the only plans, either. VinFast has signed a deal with GM to build a new global city car in Hanoi, an EV with design cues from Giugiaro and an electric bus by the end of 2019.
Would you buy a Vietnamese car if VinFast came to the UK? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.