Connect with us

News

VinFast launches VF 8 ad campaign amid insane market momentum

Credit: VinFast US/YouTube

Published

on

Vietnamese electric vehicle maker VinFast has launched a dedicated advertising campaign for its VF 8 crossover in the United States. The campaign comes amidst the momentum of VinFast stock (NASDAQ: VFS), which rose a whopping 108.87% on Tuesday. 

VinFast’s VF 8 advertisement focused on some of the all-electric vehicle’s key attributes, such as its design and creature comforts, like its rear ventilated seats and panoramic opening sunroof. The company also made it a point to highlight that the VF 8 stands out in the sea of popular electric vehicles like the Tesla Model 3 and the Ford Mustang Mach-E. 

VinFast emphasized that the VF 8 comes with a very generous warranty. Most automakers today offer a four-year basic warranty, but VinFast is offering a ten-year or 125,000-mile basic warranty. The warranty on the vehicle’s battery is even more impressive, as it lasts for ten years and unlimited miles. 

As noted in the advertisement, the VF 8 could travel a million miles, and its battery will still be covered by the company’s warranty. VinFast’s CEO, Madam Thuy Le, shared some thoughts about the ad campaign. 

Advertisement

“The VinFast team has worked tirelessly to bring new and unique EVs to the US markets. Our new US marketing campaign, ‘Changing Lanes,’ highlights the VF 8’s eye-catching design, unparalleled warranty, and long list of premium, smart features that come standard — an exceptional value for EV drivers seeking something different,” the executive said. 

VinFast’s entry into the US market has been less than stellar. Numerous auto reviewers panned the VF 8 over its alleged issues and faults, and EPA ratings for the VF8 have proven subpar. But despite this, VinFast stock soared as it started trading on the US stock market with an opening price of $22 following its tie-up with SPAC partner Black Spade Acquisition, as noted in a Reuters report. 

VinFast stock has since shown volatility, swinging up or down 14% or more every day over the past six sessions. As of Tuesday’s close, VinFast stock rose over 100% and traded at $36.72 per share, giving the company a valuation of $85 billion. That’s more than Ford ($47.5 billion), General Motors ($45.3 billion), and Stellantis ($56 billion). 

Watch VinFast’s marketing video for the VF 8 below. 

Advertisement

Don’t hesitate to contact us with news tips. Just send a message to simon@teslarati.com to give us a heads-up. 

Simon is an experienced automotive reporter with a passion for electric cars and clean energy. Fascinated by the world envisioned by Elon Musk, he hopes to make it to Mars (at least as a tourist) someday. For stories or tips--or even to just say a simple hello--send a message to his email, simon@teslarati.com or his handle on X, @ResidentSponge.

Advertisement
Comments

News

Anti-Tesla union leader ditches X, urges use of Threads instead

Tesla Sweden and IF Metall have been engaged in a bitter dispute for over two years now. 

Published

on

UK Government, CC BY 2.0 , via Wikimedia Commons

Marie Nilsson, chair of Sweden’s IF Metall union and a prominent critic of Tesla, has left X and is urging audiences to follow the union on Meta’s Threads instead.

Tesla Sweden and IF Metall have been engaged in a bitter dispute for over two years now. 

Anti-Tesla union leader exits X

In a comment to Dagens Arbete (DA), Nilsson noted that her exit from X is not formally tied to IF Metall’s long-running labor dispute with Tesla Sweden. Still, she stated that her departure is affected by changes to the platform under Elon Musk’s leadership.

“We have stayed because many journalists pick up news there. But as more and more people have left X, we have felt that the standard has now been reached on that platform,” she said. 

Advertisement

Jesper Pettersson, press officer at IF Metall, highlighted that the union’s departure from X is only indirectly linked to Tesla Sweden and Elon Musk. “Indirectly it does, since there is a lot of evidence that his ownership has caused the change in the platform to be so significant. 

“We have nevertheless assessed that the platform had value for reaching journalists, politicians and other opinion leaders. But it is a microscopic proportion of the public and our members who are there, and now that value has decreased,” Petterson added.

IF Metall sees Threads as an X alternative

After leaving X, IF Metall has begun using Threads, Meta’s alternative to the social media platform. The union described the move as experimental, noting that it is still evaluating how effective the platform will be for outreach and visibility.

Pettersson acknowledged that Meta also does not operate under Sweden’s collective bargaining model, but said the union sees little alternative if it wants to remain visible online.

Advertisement

“In a perfect world, all large international companies would be supporters of the Swedish model when they come here. But unfortunately, the reality is not like that. If we are to be visible at all in this social media world, we have to play by the rules of the game. The alternative would be to become completely invisible, and that would not benefit our members,” he said. 

Continue Reading

Elon Musk

Elon Musk confirms SpaceX is not developing a phone

Published

on

elon musk phone
Photo: Boss Hunting.com.au

Despite many recent rumors and various reports, Elon Musk confirmed today that SpaceX is not developing a phone based on Starlink, not once, but twice.

Today’s report from Reuters cited people familiar with the matter and stated internal discussions have seen SpaceX executives mulling the idea of building a mobile device that would connect directly to the Starlink satellite constellation.

Musk did state in late January that SpaceX developing a phone was “not out of the question at some point.” However, He also said it would have to be a major difference from current phones, and would be optimized “purely for running max performance/watt neural nets.”

While Musk said it was not out of the question “at some point,” that does not mean it is currently a project SpaceX is working on. The CEO reaffirmed this point twice on X this afternoon.

Musk said, “Reuters lies relentlessly,” in one post. In the next, he explicitly stated, “We are not developing a phone.”

Musk has basically always maintained that SpaceX has too many things going on, denying that a phone would be in the realm of upcoming projects. There are too many things in the works for Musk’s space exploration company, most notably the recent merger with xAI.

SpaceX officially acquires xAI, merging rockets with AI expertise

A Starlink phone would be an excellent idea, especially considering that SpaceX operates 9,500 satellites, serving over 9 million users worldwide. 650 of those satellites are dedicated to the company’s direct-to-device initiative, which provides cellular coverage on a global scale.

Nevertheless, there is the potential that the Starlink phone eventually become a project SpaceX works on. However, it is not currently in the scope of what the company needs to develop, so things are more focused on that as of right now.

Continue Reading

News

Tesla adds notable improvement to Dashcam feature

Published

on

Credit: Tesla

Tesla has added a notable improvement to its Dashcam feature after complaints from owners have pushed the company to make a drastic change.

Perhaps one of the biggest frustrations that Tesla owners have communicated regarding the Dashcam feature is the lack of ability to retain any more than 60 minutes of driving footage before it is overwritten.

It does not matter what size USB jump drive is plugged into the vehicle. 60 minutes is all it will hold until new footage takes over the old. This can cause some issues, especially if you were saving an impressive clip of Full Self-Driving or an incident on the road, which could be lost if new footage was recorded.

This has now been changed, as Tesla has shown in the Release Notes for an upcoming Software Update in China. It will likely expand to the U.S. market in the coming weeks, and was first noticed by NotaTeslaApp.

The release notes state:

“Dashcam Dynamic Recording Duration – The dashcam dynamically adjusts the recording duration based on the available storage capacity of the connected USB drive. For example, with a 128 GB USB drive, the maximum recording duration is approximately 3 hours; with a 1 TB or larger USB drive, it can reach up to 24 hours. This ensures that as much video as possible is retained for review before it gets overwritten.”

Tesla Adds Dynamic Recording

Instead of having a 60-minute cap, the new system will now go off the memory in the USB drive. This means with:

  • 128 GB Jump Drive – Up to Three Hours of Rolling Footage
  • 1TB Jump Drive – Up to 24 Hours of Rolling Footage

This is dependent on the amount of storage available on the jump drive, meaning that if there are other things saved on it, it will take away from the amount of footage that can be retained.

While the feature is just now making its way to employees in China, it will likely be at least several weeks before it makes its way to the U.S., but owners should definitely expect it in the coming months.

It will be a welcome feature, especially as there will now be more customization to the number of clips and their duration that can be stored.

Continue Reading