Vinh Phuc province licenses $30 mln investment for automaker Polaris

Northern Vietnam's Vinh Phuc province has delivered an investment certificate to the U.S.-based Polaris Inc., a Fortune 500 company, to invest $30 million in manufacturing high-performance motorcycles under the Indian Motorcycle brand.

Hoang Thuy Lan, chief of Vinh Phuc's Party Committee, handed over the document to the U.S. firm at a provincial investment promotion event in San Francisco last Friday.

Dalton Pierce, vice president of motorcycle operations, lauded Vinh Phuc’s assistance to the project, which took only one week to check and deliver the investment certificate.

The new factory, also Polaris’s 20th, will be built in Ba Thien II Industrial Park, Binh Xuyen district. Among 19 operating production facilities of Polaris, Northstar Precision Vietnam, a subsidiary of Polaris, is located in Khai Quang Industrial Park, Vinh Yen town, Vinh Phuc province.

The factory, also the first of its kind in Vietnam, could make a revenue of $100 million in 2023 and then $500 million in 2030, Dalton Pierce said to Vinh Phuc Chairman Le Duy Thanh at a meeting last November.

In 2022, Polaris recorded a net income of $447.6 million on sales of $8.59 billion, according to the firm’s financial report. Offroad vehicles and snowmobiles were the biggest cash earner with sales of $6.44 billion, up 15% year-on-year; followed by on-road vehicles, particularly the Indian Motorcycle with $1.16 billion, up 13%; and marine vehicles with $989 million, up 30%.

The U.S. is the 11th-biggest foreign investor in Vietnam with 1,239 valid projects and total registered capital of $11.43 billion as of March 20, according to the Ministry of Planning and Investment. Meanwhile, Vinh Phuc has attracted 507 FDI projects with total registered capital of $6.77 billion, ranking 16th among 63 localities in Vietnam.