New VinFast electric ute and SUV designed in Australia

A small Melbourne automotive design studio called GoMotiv has played a key role in the creation of the VinFast VF Wild electric ute concept and the VinFast VF 3 compact electric SUV revealed by the Vietnamese EV-maker at CES in Las Vegas overnight.

Only established in January 2021, GoMotiv has already completed a series of projects for VinFast including contributing to the design of the VF 5 and VF 6 EVs and the initial design concept of the VF 7 mid-size electric SUV.

Until now Gomotiv’s involvement with VinFast has not been highlighted, unlike co-operations with the likes of famed Italian design houses Pininfarina and Torino.

But both GoMotiv studio director Robert Thorpe and creative director Justin Thompson were present in Las Vegas to watch their work being unveiled.

Their plan is to use the high-profile reveal of their latest designs for VinFast to promote GoMotiv’s design capabilities to the automotive industry, especially in the Asia-Pacific and China.

“We hope when this product is unveiled at CES people go ‘wow’ and it creates a lot of interest,” said Thompson.

“Our vision is to be an alternative to the Italian studios. We are in the Asia-Pacific region and there are start-ups here we can help.”

Thorpe was the key player in the establishment of the business, moving from a 20-year career at GM Holden here and overseas to the Outer Space design and engineering consultancy which backed the establishment of GoMotiv.

Thompson, another GM Holden veteran who worked at the Salmon Street studio until its last days in October 2020, was the first to join Thorpe on the roster.

“I always had the idea Australia needed an independent design studio,” said Thorpe. “There are a lot of excellent independent engineering houses here but there was no-one doing the role of an independent design studio.

“The vision was to have an independent studio in Australia providing OEM quality work to global companies… you then have the ability to provide OEM quality design services to Australian clients, which might not have been available moving forward.”

The VF Wild concept is the Vietnamese company’s first ute and it’s claimed to be a “a pickup truck with exceptional performance, catering to the new generation of consumers looking for innovation and eco-friendliness without compromising on performance and durability”.

A 5324mm length and 1997mm width make it a mid-size ute like Australia’s two most popular vehicles – the Ford Ranger and Toyota HiLux – and the concept’s flexibility is further extended by a flexible tray incorporating a power-folding ‘mid-gate’.

VinFast says that provides a class-leading bed length that expand from five to eight feet with the rear seats folded down automatically, “equipping the VF Wild with the largest bed in its segment”.

Developed over 8000 hours by GoMotiv and debuting a new design aesthetic dubbed ‘Fluid Dynamism’, which is said to be inspired by the flowing motion of a superhero’s cape in the wind, the VF Wild concept also features a panoramic glass roof and digital side mirrors to improve aerodynamics.

“We are very proud to introduce the VF Wild concept, which encapsulates our mission to make sustainable, high-quality electric vehicles accessible to a broader market,” said Ms Tran Mai Hoa, deputy CEO of sales and marketing at VinFast Global.

“This is not just a new product in our offering – it showcases our aspiration to venture into the fast-paced and thriving electric pickup truck market.”

Dubbed as a ‘mini-eSUV’, the all-new VinFast VF 3 is a compact electric SUV that looks a lot like the Suzuki Jimny and was first shown in Vietnam six months ago.

Now launching globally, the VF 3 will soon open for early reservations in selected left-hand drive markets, where pricing and warranty details will be announced ahead of first deliveries later in 2024.

Measuring only about 3190mm long, 1675mm wide and 1620mm high, the pint-size four-seat electric city SUV has a range of just 200km and is said to have “a well-proportioned footprint for effortless city navigation”.

Inside its minimalist cabin, which features “a seamless balance of robust geometric blocks and sleek lines”, there’s a 10-inch touch-screen infotainment system with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay, and folding second-row seats that expand total cargo capacity to just 550 litres.

“With the global launch of the VF 3, we are pleased to introduce a new electric car in our range,” said Ms Hoa,

“More importantly, we are providing a new companion for a generation of young drivers who value practicality alongside personality. The VF 3 aims to unbound the imagination of urban mobility that is not only sustainable but also accessible for everyone.”

GoMotiv started during COVID lockdowns with Thorpe and Thompson working from their homes. It is now based in inner-city Abbotsford and has 23 staff sourced from GMH and Ford as well as internationally from auto companies such as Jaguar Land Rover and McLaren.

It is one of only a handful automotive design capabilities in Australia along with Ford’s Asia-Pacific facility at Broadmeadows, the smaller Toyota design centre and the Walkinshaw Automotive Group division run by Julian Quincy.

Under the one roof at GoMotiv there are exterior and interior creative teams, a digital sculpting department and studio engineers.

While VinFast is its biggest client, GoMotiv has done other work you might recognise. Those include the interior bits requiring a rework in swapping the Ford F-150 from left- to right-hand drive locally.

That breadth of skills means GoMotiv can take a vehicle from thought bubble to finished production design, working in co-operation with a vehicle’s engineering supplier.

It has already done that with the tiny VF 3 and is in the process of doing that with the production version of the VF Wild.

Not all design studios can do that and Thompson says it’s a key reason GoMotiv has built a relationship with VinFast.

“We will surface all the exterior and interior components of the vehicle, but there are manufacturing and engineering criteria we need to bake into those surfaces – it’s really complex.

“We’ve been fortunate we have all worked for OEMs… everyone can do a concept but to take a design into production is a different set of skills.

The relationship with VinFast started with the invitation from a design executive to participate in a competitive 2D ‘sketch blitz’. GoMotiv missed out then but next time it was successful.

“It was very, very difficult but we knew once we had the foot in the door we could make a go of it,” said Thorpe.

GoMotiv is yet another Australian involvement for VinFast, which created and then dissolved an Australian engineering business between 2019 and 2021.

It also purchased the former Holden Lang Lang proving ground in 2020 but had it back on sale inside 12 months, although it has yet to find a buyer.

Thorpe and Thompson are conscious of VinFast’s past history in Australia, but are confident of their position.

“I can’t say enough about the team we are working with at VinFast, they are awesome,” said Thorpe.

“What they are trying to do and the pace they are going at is insane – in a good way. It is amazing.”

VinFast was established in 2017 by Vietnam’s richest man, Pham Nhat Vuong, who is head of the giant VinGroup.

He has announced aggressive expansion plans for VinFast and launched into California in 2023 with the large VF 8 in 2023 using a Tesla-like direct to customer retail model.

The company is also now publicly traded on the US NASDAQ and has plans for an assembly plant in North Carolina to open in 2025.

However, slow sales have prompted a swap to a hybrid sales model that also includes independent dealers for its expansion beyond California. The VF 8 has also been panned in US media reviews.

According to a Reuters report, VinFast sold around 13,000 units globally in the second and third quarter this year, more than half of them to an affiliate company owned by its founder.

It has yet to announce any plans to sell vehicles in Australia.