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My assumption is there is very little risk for Leith in their dealer arrangement with Vinfast. Clearly Leith was expected to do no upgrades or investment into the dealership either in a facility that would not be acceptable by other brands (hence it has been sitting vacant or used as a pre-owned lot after they moved Nissan into a newly renovated structure that met Nissan's new dealership standards across the street). It also means demand is very soft if they were not able to clear these 60 cars in their initial entry market of California, the #1 market for EVs in the country. Reportedly, Vinfast's have been piling up in California with no buyers so they are trying to add other markets to clear the inventory after struggling in CA. A bad omen though if you can't succeed in the #1 EV market state, with the largest Vietnamese-American population, with the most robust charging network.
Here's how it probably went down (Leith said Vinfast reached out to them):
Vinfast: "Hey, we'd like you to be our first dealership and you are near our future factory. Perfect place to dump cars we can't sell."
Leith: "Who are you?"
Vinfast: "We are a new EV company and we'll give you great deal and any car that doesn't sell in 120 days we will take back. We know you have empty dealership in Cary Auto Mall just sitting there vacant and we'll take it."
Leith: "Do we need us to upgrade the dealership? It is old and falling a part. Nobody else will let us sell their brand in that building without investment. We just parked excess used cars there and haven't been maintaining the parking lot."
Vinfast: "No investment needed. We have no standards and are desperate. Just chuck some temporary signage up and that's enough for us. Again, you have empty building you are not using so really no risk for you and we will take the risk on the cars not selling so this is no risk for you like other brands."
Leith: "OK... so we don't even need to fill the pot holes in in the parking lot or stripe parking spots for potential customers? Like we can just start selling cars tomorrow?"
Vinfast: "Exactly, literally no standards. Just take our excess cars please ASAP."
Leith: "OK sounds great. Building is empty anyhow. Let's try it."
I like EV's and daily drive one, but I wouldn't drive a VinFast if you gave it to me. All the car reviewers have universally panned the product and in general can't believe this is a production vehicle.
I was surprised to get the email that Leith VinFast exists.
I was looking at other cars and was surprised to see them in the auto park. I got a closeup look and they were not very impressive. Smaller than I thought they would be. More of a compact SUV than a midsize. They had $4500 off stickers on them. Lots of other dealers in there with a good stock of EVs as well.
I like EV's and daily drive one, but I wouldn't drive a VinFast if you gave it to me. All the car reviewers have universally panned the product and in general can't believe this is a production vehicle.
I was surprised to get the email that Leith VinFast exists.
The Vietnamese should never be underestimated. The French and American forces also took them lightly. I remember laughing at the Japanese cars in the 1970s. You know how that turned out.
So, did the guy from, as the first model Leith really say they’re only good if you have a 30 mile commute? LOL. That’s the kind of FUD I would expect from a competitor, not the people selling the cars.
That was a silly statement, as the first model will be a seven passenger SUV. That sounds more like a big family vehicle for trips around town and errands.
That was a silly statement, as the first model will be a seven passenger SUV. That sounds more like a big family vehicle for trips around town and errands.
Their first vehicle, the VF8, is a five seater small SUV. All 59 cars on the Leith lot are 5 seaters. The 7 seat car will arrive sometime this year.
The Vietnamese should never be underestimated. The French and American forces also took them lightly. I remember laughing at the Japanese cars in the 1970s. You know how that turned out.
Toyota priced a base model Corolla in 1970 at $1,380 which significantly undercut a Ford Pinto at $2,062 and the Chevy Vega at $2,090. That's a huge discount to tempt people to try a brand they don't know. Hyundai and Kia also entered the USA offering cars priced at a major discount with industry leading warranties. Overtime as quality and name recognition improved, so did pricing power.
Vinfast is entering the market with a car priced higher than a Tesla, Volkwagen, Ford, Lexus, and Hyundai EV with terrible reviews. They need to improve quality rapidly or offer massive discounts to tempt people to spend $50,000 on a car with bad reviews when they can go down the road and get a Tesla for less money. Otherwise I expect these 59 VF8s will be sitting on the Leith lot for a long time (just like the Vinfast's piling up on the West Coast in storage parking lots because they can't find buyers in the #1 state for EV sales).
Even in the Cary Autopark, a potential Vinfast customer can just walk across the street to Leith Nissan where they have 28 Nissan ARIYA 5 seat EVs in stock starting $7,000 less than a VF8 with more range and not nearly the number of problems / quality issues. Why would somebody pay $7,000 more for the Vinfast versus walk 300 feet to the Nissan dealer?
For every Toyota or Honda, there are also brands with failed strategies like Daihatsu, Daewoo, Izuzu, and Suzuki in the US market. Time will tell if Vinfast is a Daewoo or a Toyota.
For every Toyota or Honda, there are also brands with failed strategies like Daihatsu, Daewoo, Izuzu, and Suzuki in the US market. Time will tell if Vinfast is a Daewoo or a Toyota.
Vinfast made a mistake bringing these initial vehicles over to the US before all of the kinks and quality issues had been resolved. My guess is they are confident that these issues will be resolved by the time cars are being produced in Chatham County. Time will tell. They are betting the farm on it. Remember Yugo?
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