VinFast gets US$1b funding led by Emirates Driving Source : https://evlife.sg/blog/vinfast-gets-us%241b-funding-led-by-emirates-driving Vietnamese electric-vehicle maker VinFast Auto Ltd is set to receive at least US$1 billion (RM4.4 billion) of investments from a group of investors led by Emirates Driving Co, a person with direct knowledge of the deal said. The infusion is part of an agreement with the UAE company announced Tuesday, the person said, asking not to be identified because the investment amount isn’t public. Emirates Driving will also provide VinFast with its expertise in driver training and road safety, and the development of an EV ecosystem, the companies said. A representative for VinFast declined to comment on the investment figure, while Emirates Driving didn’t respond to an email seeking comment. VinFast shares have dropped about 53% year-to-date. The Vietnamese automaker posted a net loss of 18.76 trillion dong in the second quarter of this year, compared with a loss of about 13.4 trillion dong a year earlier. VinFast’s billionaire founder and chief executive officer Pham Nhat Vuong said in an interview with Bloomberg TV in June that he was willing to bet all his money on the company’s growth. The EV maker expects to open an India factory in the first half of next year and broke ground on an assembly plant in Indonesia in July. VinFast has delayed the opening of a factory in North Carolina by three years to 2028.

Jaguar unveils new logo ahead of electric relaunch Source : https://www.evlife.sg/blog/jaguar-unveils-new-logo-ahead-of-electric-relaunch Luxury car manufacturer Jaguar has unveiled a new logo and branding ahead of its relaunch as an electric-only brand. The British vehicle maker, owned by Tata Motors, will launch three new electric cars in 2026, having taken new cars off sale more than a year ago to focus on reinventing the brand. As part of its rebrand, Jaguar revealed a brand new logo on Tuesday, alongside a new prancing "leaper" cat design and marketing slogans such as "delete ordinary". The new bespoke logo, written as JaGUar, has "seamlessly blended upper and lower case characters in visual harmony", the company said. Jaguar, which has sites around the country including in Warwickshire, Coventry, Solihull and Castle Bromwich, announced its transition to electric vehicles in 2021. Managing director Rawdon Glover said taking new cars off sale was "intentional" as it looked to create a barrier between the old models and the new Jaguar vehicles. "We need to change people's perceptions of what Jaguar stands for," he said. "And that's not a straightforward, easy thing to do. So having a fire break in between old and new is, actually, very helpful." Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) chief creative officer Gerry McGovern said Jaguar had "its roots in originality" and that its founder, Sir William Lyons, believed it "should be a copy of nothing." The new Jaguar brand was "imaginative, bold and artistic" and "unique and fearless," he added. The first car within the new brand would be a four-door GT built in Solihull, West Midlands, JLR previously said.

Xiaomi SUV will launch in Q1 of 2025 according to company insiders Source : https://www.evlife.sg/blog/xiaomi-suv-will-launch-in-q1-of-2025-according-to-company-insiders Chinese media reports that Xiaomi’s second model, the forthcoming SUV, currently code-named MX11, will launch in the first quarter of 2025. It is also known that the production version of the Xiaomi SU7 Ultra will be officially released in March 2025. According to one Xiaomi insider source, the SUV will be launched in February or March. However, another source close to Xiaomi Auto says that the SUV launch will match the rhythm of the SU7 launch. The SU7 launched earlier this year on March 28, with deliveries commencing a few days later. Although officially an SUV, the style of the car is very low, and many Internet users have pointed out that the car has a shape and silhouette similar to that of the Ferrari Purosangue. However, it is also obvious that some of the design elements of the SU7 are carried over into the new car, such as the headlights, continuous tail lights, frameless doors, and semi-hidden door handles. While there is currently no shortage of renderings of what the car will look like, actual pictures of the car still show heavily camouflaged test models. Recently, one Weibo user reported seeing and supplied a video of Xiaomi CEO Lei Jun personally testing the Xiaomi SUV on the highway. Spy shots of the interior show that the new car will differ significantly from the Xiaomi SU7, at least in terms of the center console design. On the SU7, there is a row of buttons going vertically down the left side near the driver, controlling various functions such as the spoiler and air suspension. These are absent from the new SUV, which has just wireless mobile phone chargers, cup holders, and a central armrest with a cubbyhole inside. It is expected that Xiaomi will take a similar approach to pricing the new SUV as with the SU7. The sedan prices deliberately started lower than the Tesla Model 3 with the base Standard model, matching the starting price with the Pro, and exceeding it with the Max. Most probably, the SUV prices will similarly be matched to those of the Tesla Model Y. Currently, in China, the Tesla Model Y is priced from 249,900 yuan (34,500 USD) to 354,900 yuan (48,950 USD). This means that the starting price of the Xiaomi SUV should be significantly under 250,000 yuan (34,500 USD). Xiaomi is working day and night to finish F2, the second phase of its factory. However, it is unlikely that the factory will be complete and put into production before the summer of 2025. The existing factory already works two shifts and is unable to keep up with demand for the SU7, which may inhibit the company’s plans to launch the SUV in Q1. It is likely that the SUV will sell even better than the sedan. With the first phase of the factory already pushed to supply the sedan, launching the SUV without the second phase of the factory being completed could be a mistake. Another possibility is that the first factory will switch to a three-shift pattern to try to maximize resources.