Vinfast purchases intellectual property rights from BMW for car production

By Anh Nguyen - Jan 23, 2018 | 06:00 AM GMT+7

TheLEADERVinFast Manufacturing and Trading Co., Ltd, Vingroup’s subsidiary entered the US$5 million contract of two sedan and SUV car models with Pininfarina while announcing plans to buy intellectual property rights from BMW to develop the designs.

Vinfast purchases intellectual property rights from BMW for car production
A favorite Sedan model of Vinfast.

These models are the two most favorite Sedan and SUV automobile designs out of the 20 designs offered in a contest “Selection of your own cars” held in October 2017.

Vinfast also revealed the plans to acquire the intellectual property rights from BMW.

THACO is currently an official distributor of BMW in Vietnam. The company has announced the official selling prices of 16 car models including 305 BMW cars and 45 MINI cars imported early this year.

Accordingly, the new prices of BMW models offered by THACO are VND99 million to 589 million (US$4,366 to 25,975) lower than those of the previous year. 528i Gran Turismo and X5xDrive35i are the two models having the highest discount of over VND500 million (US$22,050).

In particular, two models, namely X6 x Drive35i Pure Extravagance and M2 Coupe, have VND1 million ((US$45) higher than those of last year.

Vinfast's participation is expected to heat up the automobile market in Vietnam.

Signing co-operation agreements with the world’s reputable partners has affirmed Vinfast’s commitments to manufacturing safe and modern automobiles in the Vietnamese market, on a par with world-class car models.

In addition, Vinfast will organize a vote to gather ideas from customers for the next models after launching the two first automobile models. The car models developed by Vinfast, under the slogan “Vietnamese identity — Italian design — German engineering — International standard,” will be exhibited at the Paris Motor Show 2018 held in France in October. Vinfast will present them in Viet Nam in December.

The scope of referendum will be extended to the international audience, affirming pride in the Vietnamese cars. Vinfast will receive orders from the commencement of 2019 and plan to export cars abroad.

Vinfast is urgently building a 500,000sq.m factory in Dinh Vu-Cat Hai Economic Zone, Hai Phong City, which is expected to be completed by July this year.

Besides, Vinfast is also focusing also on improving human resources and product development. The company has entered contracts with the world’s leading partners in the field of design, supplying solutions for car production, technology, equipment, auto components and parts and training of technicians, such as Bosch, Siemens, Pininfarina, Italian Design, Torino Design, Zagato, BMW, Magna Steyr, AVL and German Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Viet Nam.

These efforts aims at speeding up the process of transforming the car from a piece of drawing to reality, confirming Vingroup’s the serious investment and commitment to realizing a Vietnamese car with international standards.

Previously, VinFast automobile manufacturing complex was commenced in September 2017 in Hai Phong, with a design capacity of 500,000 units by 2025 and expectation to become the leading automobile manufacturer in Southeast Asia.

Its first products will be introduced in the market in the third quarter of 2019.