Former VinFast engineer SAE-A keynote speaker

FORMER VinFast engineering chief Kevin Yardley has been named as the keynote speaker for the Society of Automotive Engineers – Australasia (SAE-A) annual general meeting and networking event to be held in Melbourne on June 27.

Mr Yardley, who was also the director of propulsion systems at General Motors Holden for almost 15 years, will speak at the SAE-A AGM almost two years after he and most of his Australian engineering team departed abruptly from the Vietnamese carmaker.

He established VinFast’s technical centre in Port Melbourne in 2019, followed by the acquisition of the former Holden Proving Ground at Lang Lang in 2020.

In 2021, Mr Yardley became deputy CEO of product development, but before the year was over, VinFast – a member of Vietnam’s largest private corporation, VinGroup – had moved its engineering back to Vietnam.

With a unique insight into a remarkable chapter in Australian automotive engineering, Mr Yardley heads a bill that also includes computer-aided engineering presentations by senior engineers from Ford Motor Company Australia, CAE engineer Prakash Shrestha, and LEAP Australia, engineering solutions manager Khesh Selvaganapathi, along with the brief business of the annual general meeting.

The SAE-A networking event follows on from the society’s successful APAC21 international conference last year and continues its commitment to presenting unique engineering perspectives at its events.

This year’s event will also include displays from the Formula SAE-A racing series and examples of engineering simulations from Ford Australia.

The Society of Automotive Engineers – Australasia Annual General Meeting and Networking event will be held at the Richmond Social on Tuesday June 27 from 6:00pm. Bookings are available via saea.com.au/events