VinFast breaks ground in Chatham County on its promised $4 billion EV plant
North Carolina officials and top VinFast executives met Friday morning in Chatham County to officially start construction on the carmaker’s first manufacturing facility outside its native Vietnam.
By 2028, VinFast has committed to employ 7,500 people at the site, about 30 miles southwest of Raleigh. In terms of projected job creation, it is the largest state-backed economic project in North Carolina history.
VinFast, which produces fully electric SUVs, is poised to be the first car manufacturer to open a plant in North Carolina, completing a long-held ambition of state leaders.
“We’ve been working on that for decades, folks,” Gov. Roy Cooper told the crowd, which gathered under a tent to beat the morning’s blistering heat. “Decades we’ve wanted an automaker in North Carolina, and you know, somebody was looking after us. We were just waiting for that EV market.”
North Carolina had previously vied to land Volkswagen, BMW, Volvo, Mercedes, and a joint Toyota-Mazda plant, only to watch each opt for nearby southeastern states.
The first construction phase in Chatham will include a vehicle manufacturing and assembly plant, which the company hopes to open in 2025 with an initial production capacity of 150,000 vehicles a year.
In total, VinFast has pledged to invest $4 billion in the site.
Other speakers at Friday’s ceremony included VinFast CEO Le Thi Thu Thuy, Vietnamese Ambassador to the United States Nguyen Quoc Dzung, and Democratic State Rep. Robert Reives. Neither House Speaker Tim Moore nor Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger attended the event.
Berger spoke at the March 2022 announcement of VinFast’s arrival to North Carolina.
How VinFast plans to pay for the site
Earlier this month, the company submitted site plans to the Chatham County Planning Department that contained designs for nearly 3 million square feet of space. VinFast has received county and environmental permits to begin work on the site, and construction crews could be seen working in the distance as officials spoke.
VinFast is a relatively new car company, having formed in 2017 as a subsidiary of the Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup. It is owned by Pham Nhat Vuong, the Southeast Asian country’s wealthiest person. Two years ago, the company pivoted toward only producing electric SUVs and began targeting foreign markets.
The expansion has come at a hefty price.
In the past six years, the parent company has spent $9.3 billion to fund VinFast operations according to public filings to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Since 2021, the year it began ramping up its global EV capacity, VinFast has lost a combined $4 billion.
Last summer, VinFast secured $4 billion in loans from Credit Suisse and Citigroup. In April, the company announced $2.5 billion in additional funding from VinGroup and Vuong personally.
When announcing the Chatham project in March 2022, the state and county combined to offer VinFast up to $1.25 billion in performance-based payroll tax cuts if the company met its future hiring and investment targets. The North Carolina General Assembly also appropriated $450 million to improve nearby roads, prepare the site, and enhance water and sewer infrastructure around the plant near the rural town of Moncure.
VinFast has also applied for a $1.4 billion loan from the U.S. Department of Energy, which oversees a program designed to promote the domestic production of fuel-efficient vehicles.
Photographer who took iconic Vietnam War photo shoots pics at VinFast groundbreaking
Cooper praises VinFast driving experience
For now, VinFast produces vehicles in Vietnam, but officials hope the North Carolina plant will support its global ambitions.
“This will better position us to manufacture and distribute EVs in North America and fast-growing markets with greater speed and efficiency,” Thuy said.
According to the company, VinFast has so far delivered 350 VF8s, its five-seat model, to U.S. customers since shipping its first batch of vehicles late last year.
While several auto critics panned the VF8 this spring, Cooper on Friday was bullish about the SUV’s prospects.
“(Thuy) drove me in a VF8, and it was a great ride,” Cooper said. “Let me tell you, these cars are going to be great sellers in this country. We are excited about this partnership.”
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