Vietnamese electric vehicle manufacturer VinFast has officially started building its first electric vehicle manufacturing site in the US, located within the Triangle Innovation Point in Chatham County, North Carolina.
The plant, which has a Phase 1 total investment of up to $2 billion USD, spans an area of approximately 1,800 acres and is divided into five main production areas, including a body shop, general assembly, press shop, paint shop and an energy center. There will also be other functional facilities in the factory premises.
In the initial phase, the factory will focus on building VinFast’s VF 7, VF 8 and VF 9 electric vehicles with an expected production capacity of 150,000 vehicles per year. The supplier base for components and materials will be primarily concentrated in the US, Vietnam and a few other countries. Future expansion and updates for the factory will be identified in the next phase.
Currently, VinFast has appointed Clayco as the general contractor and construction management company to lead the project and will begin the bidding process to select subcontractors soon.
The VinFast electric vehicle manufacturing plant is expected to commence production in 2025, creating an ecosystem of suppliers and thousands of jobs.
The state of North Carolina is funding the project with a total of 1.2 billion dollars.
The manufacturing complex, VinFast’s first electric vehicle factory outside of Vietnam, will also play an important role as the company strives to reach world-class levels of sustainable mobility on a global scale.
In a related news, VinFast said on Friday it is planning to list in the United States next month via a blank-cheque company after the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) gave the go ahead to its proposed business combination.
VinFast announced in May it would go public through a merger with special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) Black Spade Acquisition Co.
VinFast and Black Spade aim to complete the merger by August, they said in a joint statement.
Black Spade is set to hold an extraordinary shareholder meeting to approve the proposed business combination with VinFast, the joint statement said.
