VinFast's US EV plant gets delayed by a year to 2025

Vietnamese EV maker VinFast recently delivered its first cars to the US. The US market is a huge focus for the company, which has plans underway to build a $4 billion factory in North Carolina, following a generous $1.2 billion incentive package from local authorities.

The initial plan was for the plant to be up and running in July 2024, but today VinFast has admitted that's not feasible anymore. Instead, the factory will start production at some point in 2025. Depending on when in 2025 it starts running, this is a delay of around six to eighteen months, and that's pretty substantial.

The reason for the revised timeline has to do with bureaucratic woes. "We need more time to complete administrative procedures", VinFast said in a statement.

Last month, VinFast received an Air Permit from local authorities to start construction, but it still needs a permit from the US Army Corps of Engineers designed to minimize damage to water quality and wetlands.

The plant, which sits on 1,759 acres (712 hectares) of land in North Carolina's Chatham County, is expected to create more than 7,000 jobs and eventually churn out 150,000 vehicles per year. The first phase is valued at around $1.4 billion.

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