Today is 10 years since the announcement that shook Australia & destroyed an industry. And killed Holden.

[Bossxr8]

Originally Posted by Franco Cozzo

We had an attempt here from Vietnamese car manufacturer Vinfast, then they randomly pulled out of the country completely.

We've got defence manufacturing, I reckon Thales should do a civilian version of the Ute variant of the Hawkei.

Vinfast just wanted a complete proving ground to test at, it was never going to manufacture here. Vietnam is cheap AF to manufacture in, and many companies are moving there from China. Doesn't matter anyway, Vinfast looks like a shambles.

https://jalopnik.com/vinfast-vf8-ele...u-s-1849892217

If my initial drive of a pre-production VinFast VF8 the next day is anything to go by, the answer is: No, the cars are not very good at all.


Our press drive took place on yet another private island owned by Vingroup: VinPearl Nha Trang. It’s Vingroup’s flagship property, home to the company’s Disney-like VinWonder amusement park. VinFast closed off a small section of the island for a controlled test drive route that I measured at about 2 kilometers — or less than 1.3 miles.

In front of VinPearl’s ornate convention center sat eight VinFast VF8s in two trim levels, Eco and Plus. Despite all the uncanny-valley showmanship, here we were, about to drive cars that were, in theory, nearly production ready. The brand ambassadors once again reiterated the company’s plans to ship vehicles to the US within a few weeks. Although the cars we were driving were Vietnamese spec, we were told “only a few software tweaks” would be required to make them ready for the US market.

I hope they do more than software tweaks. In its current state, the VF8 isn’t ready.


The VinFast VF8 is a compact-ish midsize EV crossover, with 350 horsepower in Eco trim and 402 HP in the Plus trim. Even with the generally higher curb weight inherent to an electric vehicle, 350 horsepower should be enough to scoot the VF8 around with authority. Yet throughout my time behind the wheel, the VF8 felt like it had barely half that output. I drove every pre-production vehicle VinFast brought to the event; all of them felt slow, and their performance was inconsistent.


The ride and handling were even worse. As VinFast bussed us from place to place, I noticed that company reps would always follow us in a few VF8s. Much of Vietnam’s highway system is brand-new and very smooth, but the VF8s were constantly bounding up and down, with poor suspension control that was visible from the bus. I shooed it away, figuring that the VinFast team was driving development mules that didn’t represent the near-final cars I was under the impression we would be driving.

Nope. Driving one VF8 after another around VinFast’s private island test course, my experience was exactly what I had seen as the VinFast folks tailed us around north Vietnam. Even on the island resort’s glass-smooth roads, the VF8 bucked and bounced as if the car was on cut springs. The steering was dead and nonlinear, paired with tires that gave up grip at the slightest bit of cornering verve, though I’m not sure how much of a dynamic impression one can get on a closed course on a private resort island.


Annoyed, but still striving to be open-minded, I approached a VinFast engineering representative. Company spokespeople had claimed the VF8s we drove were Vietnamese production spec; I wanted to know what changes were in store for the US market. Yet again, the spokesperson reiterated that the VF8 was just a few software tweaks away from a US-market debut — implying that the chassis calibration was finalized.


To say I was frustrated would have been the biggest understatement east of the prime meridian. The brand had made such a big damn show — chartering a 20-hour flight, flexing on us with an almost haughty display of this automotive startup and its parent company’s reach into nearly every aspect of Vietnamese life. VinFast reps had bragged about beating their own internal timelines in getting these cars ready for mass production, and judging by the smiles on their faces, it seems like they were all genuinely psyched to show off a product they believed was ready to go toe-to-toe with established automakers. Instead, I’d been flown 8,000 miles to tootle around in a car that clearly wasn’t anywhere near done. I was ****ed that the company had wasted my time.


I decided to drive the other VF8 variant, the Plus model, said to have 402 horsepower. It, too, was dog-slow with crap ride quality. Not satisfied with my initial answers, I marched over to the gaggle of VinFast employees, trying to get to the bottom of the car’s poor performance. Eventually, I was led to a main engineer, someone who could answer substantial technical questions about the vehicle.

“So, this car has anywhere from 350 to 402 horsepower, right?” I asked the VinFast engineer. “Why is it so slow?”

“You mean peak horsepower,” he corrected me.


“What?”

“Peak horsepower. The VF8 only has 350 to 402 horsepower when the battery is above 80 percent charge,” the engineer said.

“You do realize that you’ll be the only manufacturer that limits power this severely, right?” I shot back. None of our test cars were fully charged, some of them hovering at 50 percent battery. Even then, that’s not an excuse. I have never driven an EV that reduced power output this dramatically at a routine state of charge. It didn’t seem right.

The VinFast engineers insisted I drive one specific prototype unit they claimed had the “latest and greatest” suspension and software updates. It, too, was pretty ****. The same bouncy, unfinished ride, the same dead steering, and it was only marginally quicker than the others. There were serious power delivery problems, too.



I had gotten tired of the dog and pony show, the over-the-top opulence, and the company’s inability to answer a question. Still, I tried to be diplomatic. I pulled aside VinFast’s U.S. public relations representative. “Baby, you gotta tell ‘em,” I said. “This car ain’t ready.” He reiterated the line I had heard so many times before: That the VF8s we were driving were pre-production models, and I should keep that in mind as I scrutinized their performance.

I’m not naive. I understand a PR rep’s job is to tell journalists what the company wants them to hear. But that’s not enough. In its current state, at the price VinFast wants to charge, the VF8 is a terrible deal. It feels like an underdeveloped, unfinished product that, quite frankly, would be an embarrassment in any market.


Throughout the entire trip, the VinFast representatives were super excited, certain that the company would meet its goal of beginning US deliveries in the fall. Outside the factory, completed VF8s and VF9s sat in parking lots, seemingly ready to be exported and delivered to customers. The brand wanted to ship ready-to-go cars to the US mere weeks, if not days, after our trip. If the pre-production units I drove were so far removed from what we’d be getting in the US, why bring me here? Why have journalists drive them at all?

Originally Posted by Ford Falcon XR6

Simple solution would have been to heavily tax all overseas made cars. And redirect that tax money to locally build the cars people wanted at affordable prices. The import taxes on foreign made car could have been used to sustainably subsidise our higher manufacturing costs.
But that would affect the mega profits of the big manufacturers and our government would never step on the toes of big corporations. We live in a world ruled by the super wealthy and their corporations governments are puppet who push their agendas. Manufacturing well made products in Australia reduces profits so we don’t do it plain and simple. Not just us who miss out the countries who do manufacture pay their workers stuff all for long hours in poor conditions. We are still more fortunate then them…

That's pretty much what tariffs were for. But in all their wisdom, taking them away and letting the locals die was somehow a better idea.