Vietnamese electric automaker VinFast has decided to downsize its new electric vehicle production factory in Chatham County in North Carolina, prompting it to suspend construction due to permit issues.
Plan Changes
According to WRAL News, VinFast submitted a new project proposal to Chatham County that scales down the Moncure site’s general assembly building to 782,255 square feet. It reportedly represents about a 20% reduction in size from the Vietnamese automaker’s original proposal of a 995,500-square-foot building.
The plan changes caused VinFast to lose Chatham County’s initial foundation permit approval granted in July 2023.
About the Project
VinFast held the groundbreaking ceremony of its new local EV factory in Chatham County in late July last year, which relevant people like Gov. Roy Cooper and state leaders attended.
At the time, VinFast announced an investment of a whopping $4 billion into developing the new Moncure factory. It expects the factory to hit an annual production output of up to 150,000 units in Phase I alone.
Meanwhile, both the state and the country governments committed to offer incentives of over $1.2 billion.
Consequences
Due to the significant size reduction in VinFast’s new local factory, the initial permit approval lost its validity.
On Wednesday, the news outlet visited the Moncure site to check the progress. However, it revealed that the project has had no significant advancement since the groundbreaking last year.
According to Chatham County, VinFast cannot pursue any construction on the site until it obtains a new permit for the updated foundation plans. It is still evaluating the company’s permit application for an 850,564-square-foot body shop building and trade permit for sewer and water.
Nonetheless, VinFast assured stakeholders during a call with investors for the Q1 2024 Earnings Report that the Moncure factory in North Carolina is “still ongoing.”
“We’re still on track to start the operations by the end of next year, start hiring a lot of workers and putting in operations by the end of next year.”
VinFast Board of Directors Chairwoman Thuy Le
An economist also expressed optimism about VinFast’s expansion on Tesla’s home turf.
“I don’t think that this is doomsday message from VinFast. I do think it still has a future here but maybe not as big of a future as it wanted.”
Economist Mike Walden
Despite the plan changes, Chatham County seems unworried with VinFast’s investment.
“VinFast has not made us aware of any changes in their capital investment or job creation numbers of about 7,500.”
Unnamed county spokesperson
Notably, the 2025 timeline aligns with the company’s announcement in March last year when it postponed the factory’s launch. For context, VinFast initially expected to kick off the factory’s operation in the summer of this year.
