VinFast, a Vietnamese manufacturer, announced on Wednesday that it would begin building a $4 billion electric vehicle factory in North Carolina the next week as part of its effort to increase its presence in the American market.
Plans for the American facility were revealed last year by the division of the largest conglomerate in Vietnam, Vingroup, which started operations in 2019. A year later than originally anticipated, it now plans to begin manufacturing in 2025.
According to Thuy Le, president of VinFast Auto, “the factory will become VinFast’s primary supplier of electric vehicles to the North American market when it begins operations.”
A facility with a capacity to produce 150,000 vehicles annually is among the project’s USD 2 billion investments in its first phase.
A number of EV companies, including VinFast, are vying for market share as market giants Tesla and China’s BYD engage in a price war at a time when demand growth seems to be slowing in key countries.
The electric vehicle manufacturer obtained financing commitments of USD 2.5 billion from its founder and parent firm to support its global expansion before it started shipping cars to California in March.
According to the company’s founder, the VinFast Vietnamese manufacturer projects selling up to 50,000 electric vehicles this year, a nearly seven-fold increase over 2022, and reaching break-even by the end of 2024.
