Vietnamese automaker VinFast is trying to enter the American market. And Americans like trucks. You’ll never guess where this is going.
VinFast used the CES consumer electronics show to show off a new concept car, the VF Wild. It’s a midsize electric pickup with a folding midgate to create more cargo space, allowing you to pass long items from the bed into the cabin.
About VinFast
VinFast has created a lot of buzz in a short time but has just begun to grab a foothold in the American car market.
It’s Vietnam’s largest carmaker and a subsidiary of the giant Vingroup conglomerate. Vingroup is in every business, from construction to education. It runs grocery stores, apartment buildings, and vacation resorts in its home country.
Related: What is VinFast? All About the New Vietnamese Automaker
It also builds cars, and plans aggressive growth in that business. VinFast, its automaker arm, now has offices on five continents, a factory under construction in North Carolina, and showrooms selling cars in California.
They offer the VF 8, a 2-row midsize SUV, and the VF 9, a 3-row equivalent. Early reviews have not been promising, but many of the issues they identified are easily fixed, and no automaker’s first products are earthshaking.
And, while the cars may take time to become competitive, the company knows how to generate publicity. It was briefly valued higher than Volkswagen or Ford thanks to meme stock traders in 2023. It made headlines with a policy that pays owners while cars are in the shop. And it may soon offer America’s cheapest new car.
About the VF Wild
The VF Wild rides on the same platform as the VF 8 and VF 9, giving it measurements firmly in the midsize pickup category.
The bed measures 5 feet long, but a power-folding midgate lets you borrow 3 feet of the cabin to expand that to 8 functional feet of space. “The design also integrates a panoramic glass roof,” VinFast says, and cameras for side mirrors — a concept car staple that isn’t legal for production cars in the U.S.
VinFast says its exterior design was “inspired by the flowing motion of a superhero’s cape in the wind.” We don’t see it, but we do see what look like big 26-inch tires tucked under scratch-resistant plastic fender flares with lots of room for suspension travel — the makings of a decent off-roader.
The company has revealed nothing about the vehicle’s specifications. The 402-horsepower all-wheel-drive (AWD) powertrain available in the VF 8 could be a potent setup off the asphalt. But that powertrain has ranges as short as 191 miles in the VF 8, and electric trucks lose range when towing or carrying a bed full of weight.
For now, VinFast is calling it a concept car — a design study that might never see production. With many automakers, we’d take their word for it and assume this will never see a showroom floor. But VinFast is always looking for a way to win Americans’ attention, and a truck might be the way to do it.
