The Vietnamese automaker is in the process of registering patents for its sedan and SUV models in Russia.
Russian news site Vesti has reported discovering images of VinFast’s sedan and SUV Lux in the database of the Russian Federal Service for Intellectual Property (Rospatent).
“Clearly, the Vietnamese automobile brand with BMW’s platform is approaching really close to the Russian market,” the news site said, suggesting that VinFast’s plans to sell its products in Russia might have been some time in the making.
According to a VinFast source, the company is in the process of completing necessary procedures to start selling cars in Russia. The source did not reveal a time frame for when it would happen.
Right from the beginning, VinFast had aimed at making cars that meet European standards, so they could be exported, apart from being sold in the domestic market. Russia was one of the first foreign markets targeted.
The sedan and SUV Lux are both equipped with turbocharged 2-liter 4-cylinder engines. The sedan has a 174 horsepower engine and a maximum torque of 300 Nm, while the SUV has a 228 horsepower engine with a maximum torque of 350 Nm.
Currently, the Lux model is scheduled to reach Vietnamese customers in the third quarter of this year, following the Fadil car, which would be introduced to the domestic market in the second quarter.
VinFast is shipping 155 of its cars to 14 countries across Asia, Europe, Africa and Australia to test them for safety and endurance against standards in those countries.
VinFast, the car manufacturing unit of Vietnam’s largest private conglomerate Vingroup, showed off its first two car models, a sedan and an SUV, at the Paris Motor Show in France last October just a year after the company’s incorporation, grabbing the attention of the local and international media.
Source: Vnexpress
