David Beckham Helps Launch Vietnam’s First Automotive Brand
Due next summer, Lux A2.0 Sedan and Lux SA2.0 SUV evoke a ‘Vietnamese spirit.’
What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think about Vietnam? For a good number of us, there’s the proxy war from the late 1960s through early 1970s that left the United States a bit jaded. A few of us may fondly recall the time Jeremy Clarkson suffered on a scooter while travelling through the country. And of course, Vietnam is a lovely place to visit, and whose people welcome Westerners.
But as a country with an auto industry? That thought would have never crossed our minds until the 2018 Paris Motor Show. The Daily Mail was there when English soccer legend and owner of upcoming MLS team Inter Miami CF, David Beckham, helped launch Vietnam’s first automotive brand, VinFast.
Owned by Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup, VinFast isn’t playing around. Aside from Beckham (whose wife, singer and fashion icon Victoria Beckham, once put her spin on the Land Rover Evoque), the luxury automotive subsidiary bowed in Paris with the help of Miss Vietnam, Trần Tiểu Vy. Beckham told the crowd gathered at the brand’s unveiling that it was “a thrill to be in Paris to celebrate the arrival of a new carmaker on the global stage.”
As for the cars themselves, VinFast plans to hit the local market with the one-two punch of the LUX A2.0 sedan and LUX SA2.0 SUV. VinFast’s chairwoman, Le Thi Thu Thuy, told The Telegraph the duo represent the brand’s mission “to be a successful automotive brand both in Vietnam and internationally.”
According to Road Show, the two models were designed by Italian design powerhouse Pininfarina, and are rear-drive vehicles powered by variants of a 2.0-liter turbo-four paired with a ZF eight-speed automatic. The sedan’s turbo-four delivers 174 or 228 horses, while the SUV uses the 228-horse version to power the rears or (optionally) all corners.
“It’s incredible, I mean, to create something in such a short space of time is really, it’s really incredible, you know, it really is,” Beckham said. “Vinfast is a miracle for Vietnam.”
The miracle that is VinFast will begin production of its luxury offerings next year, with sales to begin in September of 2019 for the 2020 model year. Planned production is set for 250,000 cars per year, 500,000 per year by 2025. VinFast will first sell their wares in Vietnam, then expand to the rest of Asia and into Europe down the road.
Photos: The Daily Mail;Â The Telegraph
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