Vietnamese EV automaker VinFast opens 4 new stores in California

Vietnamese electric vehicle (EV) automaker VinFast has recently opened new stores in Southern California.

The stores, located in the cities of Los Angeles, Marina del Rey and Irvine, opened on Wednesday. Meanwhile, a showroom in the city of Torrance opened on Saturday.

With these new additions, VinFast, which has been compared to Tesla, now has 10 locations in total across California.

In July, six of the company’s stores opened in San Diego, Santa Monica, San Mateo, Commerce, Berkeley and Corte Madera.

Last month, VinFast shipped its first batch of 999 EVs to the U.S.

The batch, which will reportedly arrive sometime this week, consists of VinFast’s VF 8, a five-seater SUV in the D segment that comes packed with various features, such an advanced driver assistance system that features highway assist, lane changing assist and smart parking assist.

Although the VF 8s have yet to reach the U.S., they have already drawn backlash over recent news that the EV model VinFast has shipped out is different from what was initially advertised.

Reservation holders were notified that the VF 8s in the initial shipment will be a special “City Edition.”

This previously unannounced version has a total full-charge range of 290 kilometers (approximately 180 miles), while the company’s highly promoted Eco and Plus versions have a total full-charge range of 420 kilometers (approximately 261 miles) and 400 kilometers (approximately 249 miles), respectively.

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