VinFast Pushes Ahead With U.S. EV Plant Despite Industry Slowdown

The Vietnamese EV maker’s U.S. sales are a mystery. Despite that, it wants to resume construction on its North Carolina plant.

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Iulian Dnistran

By: Iulian Dnistran

Mar 18, at 6:30am ET

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VinFast said it wants to restart construction at its delayed EV factory in North Carolina.
The plant was supposed to go online in 2024, but construction was put on hold.
Now, the Vietnamese company plans to resume work this year, but with a significantly lower outcome.

VinFast, the Vietnamese electric car manufacturer that brought us the questionable VF8 crossover, wants to restart construction at its stalled factory in North Carolina.

The move was announced in the company’s latest SEC filing, as reported by Business North Carolina, and comes at a time when several heavyweight names in the car industry have retraced their steps after facing significant tariff- and policy-related headwinds.

2024 VinFast VF8 Plus: The InsideEVs Review

2024 VinFast VF8 Plus

Photo by: Mack Hogan/InsideEVs

VinFast’s American ambitions ran high at the beginning of the decade, but they rapidly fell apart after the company found it quite hard to convince buyers to spend their hard-earned money on an electric car made by a newcomer. The fact that the car itself got scathing reviews from established journalists didn’t help, either.

A big part of the company’s plans to make a splash stateside was a new EV factory in North Carolina. A memorandum of understanding was signed with the state’s government in 2022, and the plant was supposed to start churning out the VF8 and VF9 electric SUVs in 2024. However, that never happened, as VinFast put the construction on hold in 2024, citing “economic headwinds.”

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Now, the manufacturing facility is back on the radar, but at a much lower scale than originally envisioned. According to Business NC, company officials told North Carolina officials that it expects employment in the 1,400-job range, a massive 80% decrease from the 7,500 jobs promised when the factory was announced.

What’s more, the endeavor comes at a time when industry heavyweights like Ford, Honda, and Stellantis have significantly toned down their EV ambitions in the U.S., with billions of dollars going down the drain in the process. With the $7,500 federal tax credit and greenhouse gas emissions penalties out of the equation, automakers are finding it easier to just cancel or discontinue electric models and focus on gas and hybrid cars instead. Import tariffs also took a huge toll.

VinFast isn’t doing great, either. In its fourth-quarter earnings release, it reported a $3.9 billion net loss for the 2025 calendar year, with a $235.6 million impairment charge related to the North Carolina plant. All things considered, the Vietnamese EV maker doubled its global vehicle sales last year, delivering nearly 200,000 EVs from its four factories–two in Vietnam, one in India, and one in Indonesia.

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In North Carolina, VinFast has been promised $315 million in incentives from state and local governments over 32 years, and the Vietnamese company could lose this money if it fails to fulfill its promises. According to Bloomberg, the EV maker may also be required to pay back $125 million in site preparation costs if it doesn’t create 3,875 jobs, and the state has the option to buy back all or part of the 1,765-acre site if VinFast misses crucial milestones, including creating 1,750 jobs by the end of this year.

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However, if VinFast invests at least $500 million in the project’s primary development tract, the state can no longer repurchase the portion of the site that has already been developed.

It’s unclear when construction will restart in North Carolina, and whether or not any electric vehicles will roll off the assembly line there. VinFast’s U.S. sales are a mystery, as the company doesn’t break down figures for individual markets, and its dealer network here is small, with just 18 locations open and two more set to open soon, according to the company’s website.

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