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First Renderings of Vietnamese Pininfarina 02 SUV and Sedan

By associating themselves with an established design house, more and more Asian carmakers are trying to make their presence felt on the increasingly competitive auto market.
VinFast 02 SUV designed by Pininfarina 2 photos
Photo: Pininfarina
VinFast 02 sedan designed by Pininfarina
Following last week’s revelation that a Pininfarina-designed Hybrid Kinetic GT will make its debut at the 2018 Geneva Motor Show, fresh news of the Italian design house involvement with another Asian company have surfaced.

The company in question is called VinFast and is based in Vietnam. In the middle of January, it signed a contract with Pininfarina to buy two vehicle designs, one for an SUV and the other for a sedan car. According to VinFast, the deal is valued at $5 million. Also, word is VinFast is also trying to source some German technology from BMW for its cars.

The two cars to be built by VinFast have been part of a design competition which took place last October. Dubbed 02, they have been voted by some 62,000 people as the most desired to make it into production. In fact, asking people what to design next is the business model VinFast plans to use for its future models as well.

“The results of the vote will be an important reference point for Vinfast in deciding production samples, ensuring that Vinfast automobiles are beautiful, modern, and measure up to world standards, along with matching the taste and demands of the Vietnamese market,” said after the design competition Nguyen Viet Quang, the company’s deputy chairman.

On Wednesday, Pininfarina released the first images showing their take on the winning project of last year’s competition. The build is expected to go ahead at lighting speeds, as the first unveiling of the models is expected to take place this fall, at the 2018 Paris Auto Show, and then head for the Vietnam Motorshow in the last month of the year.

At the same time, construction work on a manufacturing facility kicked off in Vietnam, where the company says it plans to produce as many as 200,000 cars each year starting 2025.

There is no information available about the technical aspects of the two models, but since VinFast plans to sell them on the Old Continent, they will have to meet European regulations.
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About the author: Daniel Patrascu
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Daniel loves writing (or so he claims), and he uses this skill to offer readers a "behind the scenes" look at the automotive industry. He also enjoys talking about space exploration and robots, because in his view the only way forward for humanity is away from this planet, in metal bodies.
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