Reply To: VF9 Delivery Update

[hoang van]

Since no one from VinFast has stepped up to reply, let a fellow VF8 owner (me) try to chime in. These is my sole opinion base on the news that I have gathered over the internet and my months of following EV in general and VinFast specifically.

We, the consumers, were promised the VF 9, 3 row seaters, full size SUV in the Q3 of 2023. It is now Q3 and the shipment has yet to be shipped from Vietnam, let alone deliver to US customers. At the current pace, I do feel it is unlikely that VinFast could or would deliver the VF9 batch to the US (California) by 2023.

Here are my reasons:

1. Almost everyone else (Honda, BMW, Mercedes, GM, etc) is adopting NACS (North American Charging Standard spearheaded by Tesla) in 2025 with adapters for their cars in early 202. VinFast is still talking with Tesla to work on its adoption for all VF models in the USA. It would be naive if VinFast would be the only one not adopting. Being a Tesla driver myself, I can tell you that Tesla Superchargers are far superior than Chargepoint, EVGo, Electrify America (everyone else). Trust me, I have used them all!
2. It makes sense to hold on to the current VF9 batch in Vietnam while talking with Tesla, so if and when VinFast adopts NACS, they could retrofit the current models in VF to allow the capability to charge all Tesla’s superchargers. They could only start to update the current VF 9s if and when the talk with Tesla is finalized. As to when is the talk done? No one here would know except for Tesla and VinFast.
3. The price war started by Tesla to cut their Model X to under 80k (remember Tesla qualifies for 7.5 Fed EV credit) for a base model has shaken the EV industry. The Kia EV 9 is said to start at 64k (does not qualify for 7.5 Fed EV credit) for the long range 7 seater model with 280 miles range (more or less). These two models have 3 row seats just like VF9, so it is best to wait and gauge a little more to see how VF could reduce the price to make it attractive and competitive enough against the big boys in the neighborhood.
4. VinFast software, please don’t get me started, bless those programmers. I love computer programmers, I am one so what I not to love? But for the love of God, VinFast EV software is downright buggy. I said so many times in my video for the Vietnamese community to grasp. Excessive sounds, abusive use of Yellow Exclamation which only should be reserved for serious software/hardware issues in the car. Don’t get me wrong, the car is OK, it is not the best one out there, but it is decent; it is the software that really gave the early models of VF a bad image in many reviewers’ eyes. Fine tuning the software and learn from the mistakes of VF 8, delivering it early next year should be a better tactic.

Well, there you have it, those are my guesses as to why we haven’t heard anything from VinFast regarding its flagship full size SUV VF9.

Software is VinFast’s Achilles’ heel, VinFast has a long way to go in the software department, among other aspects of their car. Though I believe they are heading in the right direction.

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