New VinFast site plans reveal massive scope of its future NC auto plant
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VinFast in NC
Vietnamese automaker VinFast announced in March 2022 that it would open an electric vehicle assembly plant in North Carolina. The battery manufacturing plant will be built in Chatham County and is expected to eventually create 7,500 jobs. It’s the largest economic development announcement in the state’s history. Here is coverage from The News & Observer about the plans.
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New site plans filed recently by the Vietnamese automaker VinFast show the scope of the company’s future North Carolina factory.
On July 11, VinFast submitted an application for a commercial zoning compliance permit to the Chatham County Planning Department, indicating it aims to construct a combined 2.85 million square feet across eight structures.
The tallest building, a press shop, will be more than 75 feet. The largest space, reserved for general assembly, will cover almost 1 million square feet. The other structures include a body shop, central energy plant, guard house, paint shop, pump house and waste building.
VinFast’s first facility in North America will be near the small town of Moncure, about 30 miles southwest of Raleigh. First announced in March 2022, the project remains largely undeveloped. But by 2028, the automaker hopes to employ 7,500 people at the site.
Chatham County and the state offered the company $1.25 billion in tax and other incentives to locate to the rural area, including about $250 million for road and rail improvements in and around the site.
Phase 1 of VinFast’s Chatham project includes investing $2 billion in a factory capable of producing 150,000 vehicles a year. The company’s second phase will focus on battery production. VinFast hopes to begin producing fully electric vehicles at the plant by 2025, having postponed its initial opening date by a year.
Albert Kahn Associates, a Detroit-based architecture and engineering firm, designed the proposed factory layout.
Chatham officials must approve the site plans before construction can proceed. In an email Friday, company spokesperson Jeff Holland said, “We’ll have some more information to share shortly.”
In February, VinFast North America CEO Nguyen Thi Anh told The News & Observer the company could “move forward with the Phase 1 construction plan,” after the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality issued the company an air quality permit. But a visit to the Moncure site this week did not reveal any significant signs of construction.
Formed in 2017, VinFast strives to break into foreign markets with a lineup of electric SUVs. But the rollout of its first U.S. model, the VF8, has been bumpy. Following delivery delays and abysmal reviews, the model was recalled over safety concerns in May.
This story was originally published July 14, 2023 at 3:56 PM with the headline "New VinFast site plans reveal massive scope of its future NC auto plant."
