Chau Nguyen || Atlanta Spotlight

By Staff Writer Atlanta Trend

• Jun 30, 2026

Chau Nguyen is the Founder and CEO of Vintage Modern, the Atlanta-based luxury vehicle company that created a first-of-a-kind vehicle category, reimagining iconic automotive design through the lens of modern engineering, safety, luxury, and performance. 

A lifelong automotive enthusiast who has owned more than 60 high-performance vehicles, including Ferraris, Lamborghinis, Aston Martins, and McLarens, Chau launched Vintage Modern after buying a classic American truck and finding it impossible to reconcile its iconic look with the absence of modern safety and reliability. Instead of accepting the compromise, he asked the question no one else had thought to answer at scale: “Why can’t it look like classic, but operate like a modern car?” 

Under his leadership, Vintage Modern has engineered an entirely new vehicle category. Every build begins with a fully modern platform equipped with six airbags, crash-tested safety systems, traction control and crumple zones. It is then handcrafted by a team of artists over 900 hours into a classic-inspired luxury vehicle. The company produces more than 250 vehicles per year and has expanded its portfolio to include a collaboration with Carlex Design on a limited-production modern luxury SUV built on the 2026 Mercedes G63 AMG platform, with only 60 units available each year.

 
Vintage Modern has attracted a global following of more than 4 million and a clientele that includes Jennifer Lopez, Mark Wahlberg, LeBron James, and Kevin Hart.  
A serial entrepreneur with an affinity for scaling Atlanta-based startups, Chau built and exited two technology companies. In 2005, he co-founded Campus Special, which Inc. Magazine named one of the fastest-growing private companies for four consecutive years. It was acquired by Chegg, Inc. (NYSE: CHGG) in 2014. He later founded Hirewire, a top-rated on-demand hiring platform on the App Store, which was subsequently acquired by Seasoned. 

"Atlanta has always been a city that encourages entrepreneurs to think bigger, challenge convention and build something from nothing. It's where I launched my first companies, and it's where I chose to build Vintage Modern because the city's energy, talent and entrepreneurial spirit continue to inspire me every day. I'm proud that we're growing a global luxury brand right here in Georgia and showing that world-class innovation and craftsmanship can come from Atlanta. As someone who has spent his career creating new categories, there's no better place to do it than a city built by founders and dreamers," shares Nguyen. 

 
Recognized as one of Glassdoor’s Highest Rated CEOs, named among Inc. Magazine’s Most Loved CEOs in America, and selected as EY’s Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2026 Southeast Award winner, Chau brings the same obsessive attention to detail and refusal to accept the category as it stands to everything he builds.