The company announced that it is considering building a factory in the U.S. Planned factory in North Carolina was welcomed by Mr. Biden Loss-making VinFast is struggling to expand sales in the U.S.
May 29 (Reuters) – Vietnamese electric car maker VinFast further postpones its planned $4 billion factory in North Carolina as it struggles to win support from U.S. consumers. The company is considering doing so, said a person briefed on the matter.
VinFast has announced that it will build an EV/battery factory in the US in 2022 with an annual production capacity of 150,000 units, aiming to take advantage of the Biden administration’s efforts to approve subsidies for US-made EVs.
The company originally planned to complete the plant in July 2024, but later postponed the start of operations to 2025. Further postponements are being considered, said the people, who requested anonymity because the matter is private.
VinFast, which sold less than 1,000 cars in North America last year, said in a statement to Reuters that it was “undergoing a thorough review and evaluation of all aspects of the construction process for our North Carolina plant.”
A spokesperson for Chatham County, North Carolina, where ground broke for the plant in July, said county officials were not aware of any delays to the project.
A spokesperson said VinFast reviewed the size of the factory’s general meeting building twice. The most recent revision was submitted in April and is still under review by the county permitting department.
When VinFast announced plans for the North Carolina plant in March 2022, US President Joe Biden said the plant would create more than 7,000 jobs.
“This is the latest example of my economic strategy,” he tweeted at the time.
The Republicans narrowly won North Carolina in the 2020 presidential election, and the Biden campaign is investing a large amount of money to win the state in November’s presidential election, but VinFast is suffering from sluggish sales and showroom shortages. A lawsuit has been filed in the United States for not paying rent. He also faces two separate investigations. One concerns an April crash in California involving a VinFast VF 8 vehicle that killed four people. The other is allegedly in violation of ArcelorMittal (MT.LU), which publishes a new tab patent for aluminum used in VF 8.
Vietnam sold less than 35,000 cars globally last year, the majority in its home market, despite having a factory in northern Vietnam with an annual production capacity of 300,000 cars.
Most of the cars sold in Japan are also sold to affiliated companies. Net losses widened 15% last year to $2.4 billion.
Overseas plan
Despite the slump in global EV demand and price competition, VinFast said its goal of selling 100,000 units this year, double its 2023 target, remains unchanged as it looks to expand overseas.
Sales in the first quarter were less than 10,000 units, which the company attributed to a slow start to business, as usual, especially in Vietnam.
By the end of June, VinFast plans to expand its vehicle lineup to include right-hand drive models for markets such as Thailand and Indonesia, it said, adding that the results should be visible in the second half of this year.
The company also confirmed plans to establish an assembly plant in Indonesia and another assembly plant in India by 2026.
In Indonesia, “We will soon begin deliveries of the VF e34 model and plan to launch the VF 5 model within the second quarter,” VinFast said, detailing previously unannounced plans for the company’s two economy cars. mentioned.
VinFast, which was founded in 2017 and has been focusing on EVs since 2022, is not yet profitable, but posted a net loss of $618 million in the first quarter. Sales for the same period nearly tripled compared to the same period last year, but were down 31% compared to the previous three months.
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Reporting by Phuong Nguyen, Francesco Guarascio and Ben Klayman. Editing: Edwina Gibbs
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