You probably haven’t seen a Vinfast on the street yet. They’re around though, at least they are here in California. Some buyers, it seems, have decided to give the Vietnamese automaker a chance and actually buy one, despite the cars not being ready for prime time. Those buyers may have put themselves into a shaky financial situation: VF8’s are selling for over half of their original MSRPs, practically brand new.
I noticed this the other night as I was casually looking at cars online. Something told me to check to see if Vinfast actually had any cars available, new or used. Of course there are only a handful for sale in the whole country right now and just six of those are used. Those six are on sale for stupid cheap prices. Prices so cheap, you might actually find yourself considering buying one of these things.
The cheapest currently is a ‘23 VF8 for sale at Norm Reeves Hyundai in Cerritos, California. This VF8 is a City Edition Plus. It’s specs read just like any other EV crossover on sale right now: 402 horsepower, 264 miles of range (though some independent tests have seen as low as 191 miles on a full charge), 82 kWh battery pack, $56,000 MSRP. This particular VF8 was barely driven. With just 1,781 miles on the odo, it’s selling for the almost shocking price of $25,900. That’s just over $30,000 in value lost in less than 2,000 miles.
Even Vinfast’s own dealers are selling the cars for cheap. Leith Vinfast, a dealer in Cary, North Carolina has a pretty healthy inventory of used vehicles. Of the 1,648 used cars the dealer has listed for sale (which tells me it’s just a part of a larger dealer group), three of them are Vinfast. Despite each one having different mileage — 401, 1,772 and 5,288 respectively — they’re all selling for the same $29,997 price. Each are one owner, VF8 City Editions, meaning each has lost just over $26,000 in value.
Even new VF8s are being sold with big discounts. Sandy Sansing Vinfast in Pensacola, Florida has $12,960 discounts on every one of the 49 VF8s in its inventory. These prices are tempting but keep in mind: the VF8 is not good. Besides, there’s more than enough used EVs on the market now that can be had for similar prices that are worlds better than something that can glitch out or leave you stranded.
