VinFast Moves In On US Market, Mazda’s New MX5 Might Be Electric?
Vietnamese made VinFast showcases VF6 and VF7 crossovers for Stateside consumption, and Mazda’s new sports car might be battery powered.
The recent Los Angeles Auto Show taught us something. The EV market is opening opportunities from a wide variety of new manufacturers. VinFast is one of those manufacturers.
Aiming at the mid-size crossover market is a good move, and hiring Torino to do the styling is even better. According to AutoWeek, VinFast is looking to splash into the volume market first, as opposed to some makers who are choosing to do limited run exotica.
How about the specs? Both the VF6 and VF7 will have flavors to choose from. VF’s flavors are “Eco” and “plus” with 174 and 201 horsepower respectively. EV7 ups the ante with identical flavor names, but with 201 and 349 horsepower versions. For those of us with an insatiable appetite for power, there’s no word on a sporty model or anything like an EV6 GT. However, the brand remains hopeful. By 2025, the US market could make up half of VinFast’s total production.
Mazda has a new electric sports car for us. Miata? MX7?
Mazda has a new video outlining a new found focus on electricity, and they very certainly wanted to show us the sports car they have planned. According to MotorTrend, it’s called the “Vision Study” and was featured at the end of a video. Though its appearance was brief, the hitherto unnamed car could very well be a piece of Mazda’s sports car future.
A sleek, modern hard top coupe is shown, with styling cues that pay homage to Mazda’s of the past. Specifically the RX7. Of course, it’s just a rendering from a video, so zero details exist, but speculation abounds. For enthusiasts, would an electric MX5 officially kill the purity of the car? Or would a tight, balanced and punchy Miata actually be perfect? Or is Mazda planning on getting into the EV sports car game with a powerful sports coupe, or even personal luxury coupe? It wouldn’t be hard to imagine a “Cosmo” name being recycled. But RX7 or RX8? A little bit more difficult, since the “R” designated it was a rotary engine. Though technically, electric motors do rotate. Hmm…
Photos courtesy of AutoWeek, MotorTrend