Vietnamese company VinFast has confirmed that its plans to launch electric vehicle production in the US in 2024 remain in place and will be implemented, despite the fact that it is now pursuing a reduction in the number of employees in its North American division.
As stated in an interview CNBC VinFast CEO Le Thi Thu Thuy said, “we still plan to start production in 2024 as planned.” According to her, now the company is “in the last stage of obtaining permission to begin construction of the plant (in North Carolina.— “uh”), but the site for construction has already been allocated, the state authorities are preparing the infrastructure for this site.
VinFast is part of the VinGroup conglomerate of Vietnam’s richest man, Pham Nhat Vuong. VinFast was launched in 2017 to develop models in collaboration with BMW, Magna Steyr and Pininfarina. The Vietnamese automaker announced preparations for entering the American market at the beginning of 2021. The plant in North Carolina will be able to produce 150,000 electric vehicles a year.
While production in the US itself has not been launched, VinFast is taking orders from American consumers to supply its electric vehicles from Vietnam. The first batch of 999 VF 8 models was shipped to the US in November 2022, but these electric vehicles have not yet reached customers. The company explained that deliveries are postponed until the end of February, as the installed software is being updated to the cars. According to Le, VinFast now has about 12,000 pre-orders for electric vehicles.
In December 2022, VinFast also announced plans for an initial public offering of its shares in the US. Request has already been filed for an IPO on the NASDAQ stock exchange, but the company has not yet announced the placement parameters.