Vietnam car maker VinFast to build $4 bln EV plant in US

VinFast, a subsidiary of Vietnam’s biggest private group Vingroup, will build a $4 billion electric vehicle and battery manufacturing facility in North Carolina, the US this year.

The plant, set to create more than 7,000 jobs and hundreds of thousands of electric vehicles and batteries, is “the latest example of my economic strategy at work”, US President Joe Biden said in a White House statement on March 29.

“It builds on recent announcements from companies like GM, Ford, and Siemens to invest in America again and create jobs. Our efforts to build a clean energy economy are driving companies to make more in America, rebuild our supply chains here at home, and ultimately bring down costs for the American people.”

VinFast and the government of North Carolina on the same day signed a memorandum of understanding for the establishment of the plant. The company intends to invest up to $2 billion in the project’s phase 1.

It will create a major manufacturing center in Chatham County’s Triangle Innovation Point megasite, covering 800 hectares with three main areas, namely electric cars and buses production and assembly; EV batteries production; and ancillary industries for suppliers.

Construction for phase 1 will start this year after a construction permit is granted, and production, with an annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles, is expected to start in July 2024.

VinFast will continue to invest in future phases. Products include the VinFast VF 9 - a seven-passenger all-electric Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) and the VinFast VF 8 - a five-passenger, all-electric mid-size SUV.

Le Thi Thu Thuy, Vingroup’s Vice Chair and VinFast Global’s CEO, said that North Carolina’s strong commitments in building a clean energy economy, fighting climate change and reducing greenhouse gas emissions in transportation make it an ideal location for VinFast to develop its premium, smart and environmentally friendly EVs.

“Having a production facility right in the market will help VinFast to proactively manage its supply chain, maintain stabilised prices and shorten product supply time, making VinFast’s EVs more accessible to customers, contributing to the realisation of local environmental improvement goals," she said in a corporate release on Wednesday.

North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper said: “North Carolina is quickly becoming the center of our country’s emerging, clean energy economy. VinFast’s transformative project will bring many good jobs to our state, along with a healthier environment as more electric vehicles take to the road to help us reduce greenhouse gas emissions.”

Founded in 2017, VinFast boasts a state-of-the-art vehicle production facility in Haiphong city, northern Vietnam, with an annual capacity of 950,000 by 2026.

The company has established global operations in the US, Canada, Germany, France and the Netherlands. It currently provides an ecosystem of EV products in its home country, including e-scooters, electric buses and electric cars, charging station systems and green energy solutions.

Vingroup recently started construction of a battery plant on an eight-hectare plot for phase 1 in Ha Tinh province, central Vietnam, with an annual capacity of 5 gigawatt hours (GWh). The facility is expected to be fully installed and running at full capacity from late 2022.

Last November, VinFast announced the VF 8 and VF 9 (previously introduced as VF e35 and VF e36) at the 2021 Los Angeles Auto Show. The EV maker also introduced three new EVs, namely VF 5, VF 6 and VF 7, at the 2022 Consumer Electronics Show (CES), which combined with the earlier models to serve all five major vehicle segments, from small crossover to large SUV.