VinFast is continuing to make changes to their electric vehicle offerings in an attempt to keep up with the competition, even before they make their first North American delivery. The latest change is to its controversial battery subscription, which it has now abandoned.
When the Vietnamese automaker first announced pricing for the North American market, the VF8 and VF9 electric SUVs were marketed as having a lower starting price because the battery wasn’t going to be included, something that would ease sticker shock for EV buyers. Instead customers would have to pay a monthly subscription fee to lease the battery from VinFast.
A few months later they finally revealed the cost of the battery subscription, going with fixed and flexible options tied to mileage limits, pricing it as low as $39 per month in Canada or $35 per month in the US, up to as much as $199 CAD or $160 US.
Then in September VinFast quietly increased the price of the battery subscriptions (to as much as $349 CAD/$219USD), while also ditching the cheaper flexible subscription option.
Now in another change of heart, VinFast has removed the battery subscription option entirely. We received a tip yesterday that VinFast was about to make the change, so we have been keeping an eye on the website and this morning it has been updated to list the price of the VF8 and VF9 as “battery inclusive,” with no mention of the price without the battery included.
The page for the battery subscription pricing has also been updated. Instead of showing the different subscription options, the page now simply says “for future availability.”
Along with abandoning the battery subscription we were told that VinFast was also going to make the larger battery pack standard on new orders. We have reviewed the website and can’t find anything to confirm this change has also been made, but we will update this article if the automaker officially announces it.
This is just the latest change VinFast has made ahead of the first deliveries in California scheduled to take place tomorrow in California. Those first customers that are leasing from VinFast in California were notified of a significant reduction in the monthly lease from $599 to $274 per month.
VinFast has also been forced to cut the prices of their electric SUVs in response to Tesla’s price cuts. They have also been able to increase the range of the VF8 through a software update to a still underwhelming 207 miles (333km).
