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VinFast May Consider Building an Electric Pickup Truck in the U.S.

VinFast will have a factory in North Carolina pumping out electric vehicles by 2024. Apart from the VF 8 and VF 9, the company is studying other options, and it does not discard electric pickup trucks, as Craig Westbrook said at an Automotive Press Association event in Detroit on June 23.
VinFast pickup truck project presented by Filippo Perini, from Italdesign 11 photos
Photo: VinFast
VinFast pickup truck project presented by Filippo Perini, from ItaldesignVinFast pickup truck project presented by Filippo Perini, from ItaldesignVinFast pickup truck project presented by Filippo Perini, from ItaldesignVinFast pickup truck project presented by Filippo Perini, from ItaldesignVinFast pickup truck project presented by Filippo Perini, from ItaldesignVinFast pickup truck project presented by Filippo Perini, from ItaldesignVinFast pickup truck project presented by Filippo Perini, from ItaldesignVinFast pickup truck project presented by Filippo Perini, from ItaldesignVinFast pickup truck project presented by Filippo Perini, from ItaldesignVietnamese patent registry with VinFast's pickup truck patents
Westbrook is VinFast’s chief service officer (CSO), and he was asked about that possibility at the event. His answer was very vague, and he just said that VinFast wants to “serve the needs of the market.” If the Vietnamese company rules “that’s what the market needs,” the executive thinks it could offer an electric pickup truck. We are not sure why Reuters decided it was worth reporting that, mainly because he could have said the same about a hatchback, a sedan, a van, or a station wagon. Despite that, the news raises an interesting discussion that is worth bringing to you.

In 2020, VinFast patented images for a pickup truck. The designer was Filippo Perini, the design director of Italdesign. So far, all production vehicles from the Vietnamese brand were designed by Pininfarina, making the pickup truck an exception.

In the patent images, we can see that VinFast wanted this pickup truck to have a combustion engine. If the vehicle did not enter a development stage yet, that is something VinFast can change while preserving the patented design.

Unfortunately, we have no idea how big this pickup truck would be nor if it would adopt a unibody construction or body on frames. If the goal is the American market, we bet the latter is the most likely choice.

There are positive and negative aspects to consider in the possibility of an electric pickup truck from VinFast. Among the positives are the local production (avoiding the Chicken Tax) and the chance to build a reputation with electric pickup trucks before the market is flooded with options.

The negative is that VinFast is still unknown to most American buyers, especially the most traditional ones. It is not unlikely that the Vietnamese company can only develop and sell an electric pickup truck when GM and Stellantis already have their models to market. Ford will already be in the second-generation F-150 Lightning, and VinFast’s only advantage is that the American carmaker cannot build enough to meet demand.

Pickup trucks have a massive importance in the U.S. Anyone willing to be a big player in that market must sell something in that segment. Curiously, Volkswagen has been considering that for years and only announced concrete plans to do that with the Scout badge. VinFast may prove its swiftness by getting to this crucial market segment before the German brand, but we are not so sure at this point that it will.
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About the author: Gustavo Henrique Ruffo
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Motoring writer since 1998, Gustavo wants to write relevant stories about cars and their shift to a sustainable future.
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