Vietnamese automaker VinFast has signed a preliminary deal to make an initial investment of $2 billion to construct its first U.S. factory in North Carolina.
VinFast’s factory investment will be to manufacture electric buses, SUVs, and electric vehicle batteries.
The company is owned by Vietnam’s biggest conglomerate, Vingroup, and it plans to make a total investment of $4 billion in its factory complex.
VinFast’s factory will create a major manufacturing center on a 1,977-acre plot for phase 1 with 3 main areas: electric cars and buses production and assembly, EVs batteries production, and ancillary industries for suppliers.
U.S. President Joe Biden said the VinFast investment, which will create more than 7,000 jobs, is “the latest example of my economic strategy at work.”
“It builds on recent announcements from companies like GM, Ford, and Siemens to invest in America again and create jobs” added Biden, as he set an ambitious goal of making half of the new car sales to be electric vehicles by 2030.
The initial investment phase will be done by July 2024 and the company will have the annual capacity of producing 150,000 vehicles.
The company has begun accepting pre-orders globally for two electric SUVs and aims to begin delivering said vehicles in the fourth quarter of the year. VinFast aims to sell 42,000 electric vehicles globally this year.
“With a manufacturing facility right in the U.S. market, VinFast can stabilize prices and shorten product delivery time, making our EVs more accessible to customers,” said Nguyen Thi Thu Thuy, Vingroup vice-chair and VinFast Global CEO.
It is still unsure how the company will provide affordable solutions as the raw materials in the supply chain have increased in prices ever since the pandemic.
