Vietnam-based automaker VinFast has
unveiled its fastest and most expensive car to date, the President luxury SUV.
Built in a limited run of just 500 units, the VinFast President costs the
equivalent of US$ 164,000. That’s a lot of money to pay on an SUV from an
automaker that only started building cars last year. Add to that the fact that
it’s made exclusively for the Vietnamese market and you begin to question
whether or not there’s a business case for the VinFast President.
Actually, given the SUV’s hefty price tag,
analysts see the luxury model less as a product for domestic consumers and more
as a declaration of intent from VinFast. While most passenger cars in Vietnam
are assembled from imported parts, VinFast is the first company to produce cars
entirely in the country. It builds the Lux A2.0 sedan and Lux SA2.0 SUV with
technology from partners including BMW and Bosch, the Fadil city car under a
General Motors license, as well as electric motorbikes.
The President is derived from the Lux
SA2.0, itself built on the platform of the previous-generation BMW X5 F15. But
instead of a 2.0-liter turbocharged four-cylinder engine, the President
features a GM-sourced 6.2-liter V8 engine rated at 420 HP and 624 Nm of torque. Hooked to an eight-speed automatic transmission and a
full-time AWD system, the V8 enables the 5,146-mm long SUV to sprint
from 0 to 100 km/h in 6.8 seconds and reach a top speed just shy of
300 km/h.
Looking at the photos, it’s not hard to
see that the President is a development of the Lux V8 prototype unveiled at the
2019 Geneva Motor Show. It does feature some changes, including a vented hood,
copper exterior trim, new wheels, a revised center console featuring a larger
12.3-inch touchscreen display, as well as more luxurious materials such as
natural wood veneer and quilted leather upholstery.
