No one at The Drive has yet taken a turn in the VF 8, but at this point, there doesn’t seem to be any reason to. Some choice comments from around the internet back up this decision:
Steve Ewing for InsideEVs: “…the sheer amount of bouncy body motions coming through the VF8’s suspension made being in this electric crossover – and I say this without hyperbole – unbearable.” (InsideEVs’ headline is “Yikes,” by the way.)
Scott Evans for MotorTrend: “I’d be embarrassed to look a customer in the eye when handing over the keys to this vehicle.” He liked the displays, though.
Mack Hogan for Road & Track: “The VinFast VF8 has the worst body control of any modern car I’ve ever driven. Over a 90-minute drive, the 5600-lb SUV never stopped bobbing, swaying, and bucking, producing near-constant head-tossing motions.” He was similarly underwhelmed by the vehicle’s build quality and UX.
Emme Hall for Green Car Reports: “Why Vinfast is intent on rushing this car to market is beyond me.
Hopefully this company fixes all these problems and doesn’t cause people to stay away from EVs in general. (I think they are too small and unknown for this to happen)
The “learning curve” has not been repealed. Give them 20 years, if they survive, and they will get it sorted out. I figure that is a large part of the reason foreign brand cars are losing market share in China: the Chinese companies have learned how to build a decent, competitive, car, so customers no longer feel the need to pay up for a foreign brand car, to get a decent product.
Of course, some companies that may have learned, forgot how to build a decent car. Morris Motors was founded in 1912 and was a major force in the UK industry for decades. By the mid 70s, they seem to have forgotten everything they learned, when they brought forth the Marina, sold in the US as an Austin. The test of the Marina in Motor Trend was hilarious in it’s voice of disappointment and sarcasm. I remember one note that the weight of the radio made the entire dash flex as the car went over bumps. The British auto industry, as we knew it, has gone extinct.
It may come as a surprise that a loss-making automotive startup founded six years ago is now worth more than Ford and General Motors—but somehow Vietnamese conglomerate VinFast Auto Ltd. has managed it.
That’s despite the fact luxury EV maker Lucid and Rivian boast longer histories, have more industry expertise, and also boast strategic backers such as Saudi Arabia and Amazon.
Trading under the “VFS” ticker symbol at its Nasdaq debut this week, shares in the carmaker swelled to a $65 billion market cap, briefly placing it ahead of Ferrari as the eighth most valuable carmaker in the world.