- There are VinFast dealers in 13 states: California, North Carolina, Alabama, Florida, Texas, New Mexico, Maryland, Indiana, Illinois, New York, Kansas, Connecticut and Kentucky.
- Currently, the VF8 Plus and Eco is the only model on sale. The VF6, VF7, and VF9 are still listed as "Coming Soon," although the VF9 does have pricing.
Vietnamese EV startup VinFast certainly hasn’t been the darling of the press, well, ever. Whether it was flying journalists to Vietnam to drive a half-baked EV, loaning said half-baked EV out to disastrous reviews or allegedly jailing critics in its home country of Vietnam for criticizing said half-baked EV, the brand has faced some serious struggles moving its fleet of midsized half-baked EVs.
But VinFast appears to be trying, still. The company said it has updated its VF8 crossover in response to criticism and supposedly it is a better car now. Also, it’s branched out from its direct-to-consumer model and roped in a few dealerships to sell the cars. At first, it was just one in North Carolina, but the brand now has a fleet of dealers that stretch across the United States.
This isn’t entirely new news, since VinFast did announce back in April that it had signed on 12 dealerships in the United States. Yet, five months later, they’re finally coming online, along with a few more that weren’t initially announced.
VinFast is now live in North Carolina, New York, Texas, Florida, Kansas, Connecticut, and Kentucky, and there are also now stores in New Mexico, Indiana, Illinois, Alabama and Maryland—five states not initially announced in VinFast’s April announcement.
Is this good? I don’t know. Some of the websites linked to the dealerships aren’t even up and functioning yet, with Tom Wood VinFast in Indiana leading to a blank broken domain page. Others, like VinFast of Bowling Green, Kentucky also don’t have a functioning website despite the link on VinFast’s corporate website set up to redirect to the dealership’s inventory.
Some of the dealerships are offering crazy purchase and lease deals, too. Pensacola, Florida’s lone VinFast dealer is offering a staggering $15,000 off the MSRP of its supply of VF8 Eco models.
Higher-trimmed VF8 Plus models have a higher discount of $17,000, bringing their cash price to just under $37,000. Vestavia VinFast in Alabama is offering similar discounts, albeit not as extreme, bringing its VF8 supply under $40,000.
Since they’re imported from Vietnam, these cars won’t qualify for any IRA tax credits on the purchase side, but if the dealerships honor these online prices it probably wouldn’t be that big of a deal.
Oh, and we can’t forget about the nearly $0 down, $199 per month leases that the brand is offering on its VF8.
This is probably not sustainable for the brand. But, if you’re a bargain hunter in search of a cheap EV, I could see a VF8 could be enticing. Still, given the quality issues we've repeatedly encountered with these cars, we have a hard time recommending you go for it.
But perhaps that’s VinFast’s plan. Now that it’s ventured solidly outside of California, Americans who aren’t on the coasts can get acquainted with VinFast’s products without having to catch a flight. The VF8 might not be great, but the brand is still advertising its VF6 and VF7 small crossovers, which I will admit, do look better executed. The VF9 finally has a per-month price, and there is a smattering of influencers and YouTubers that have driven the three-row crossover. I’m not sure if it’ll dethrone the Kia EV9, but I guess it’s an option in the somewhat sparse three-row EV segment.
Keep on the watch, y’all. A VinFast dealer could quietly come to your area very soon. Have you picked one up? Let us know in the comments or via email what your experience has been like.
Contact the author: kevin.williams@insideevs.com
