VinFast’s 1,700-acre tract at Triangle Innovation Point near Moncure, taken in 2023. (Image via The Chatham News & Record)

Vietnamese electric vehicle manufacturer VinFast recently submitted permits to continue with its plans to construct a manufacturing plant in Chatham County — only at a smaller scale than initially announced. The company is now eyeing 2028 to begin vehicle production.

As included in the building permit for the factory, initial construction costs on the 774,000 square foot factory’s foundation are estimated to be around $25 million. It will be located outside of Moncure in Chatham County’s Triangle Innovation Point, a 400+ acre industrial and advanced manufacturing park.

When the company first announced its plans in 2022, it claimed the new plant would bring 7,500 jobs to the county while starting at a production rate of 150,000 cars per year. The original goal was to begin vehicle production by 2024, but that same year it was announced the company was delaying construction. Now, alongside downsizing its factory, VinFast has reduced the estimated jobs figure to 1,400 according to reporting from NC Tribune, an 81% decrease.

Reacting to the latest permit, the Chatham County Economic Development Corporation said it is excited to see progress on VinFast’s move into the county.

“We are encouraged by VinFast’s submission of an updated building permit and view it as a positive step toward restarting momentum on this transformative project,” said Chatham County Manager Bryan Thompson. “Chatham County remains enthusiastic about the long-term economic opportunities and regional benefits this investment will bring, including job creation, infrastructure growth, and innovation in advanced manufacturing. We look forward to continued collaboration with VinFast as the project moves ahead and to realizing its full potential for our community and the broader region.”

The VinFast VF-8, which was test driven by media members in 2022 while taking a trip to Vingroup in Vietnam. (Photo via Chatham News + Record.)

Per the company’s quarterly earnings report released Monday, VinFast lost just shy of $3.9 billion as of reporting during the 2025 fiscal year. One factor is the expiration of the United States’ $7,500 tax credit for electric vehicles, which has led to a reduction in demand for the types of cars produced by the company.

Another factor leading to poor sales for VinFast is poor vehicle reviews, with reviewers pointing out issues with comfort, control, and more. Satellite imagery and in-person reporting by Hunterbrook Media in 2024 showed the company had hundreds of unsold vehicles sitting in port terminals and fields.

One question that remains to be answered is how the reduction in projected employment will impact the incentives VinFast was slated to receive from Chatham County. VinFast initially claimed it would invest $4 billion into the county over the next two decades, and the county in turn said it would provide $400 million in incentives. However, that figure was dependent on the initial reported scale of VinFast’s North Carolina operation.

VinFast, founded in 2017 as a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Vietnamese conglomerate Vingroup, is a global automobile producer. Headquartered in Hanoi, Vietnam, its production facility in Hai Phong, Vietnam, has the capacity to produce 950,000 vehicles.

VinFast’s rapid growth has seen it establish global operations in the U.S., Canada, Germany, France and the Netherlands. VinFast currently provides an ecosystem of EV products in its home country of Vietnam, including e-scooters, electric buses and cars, a charging station system, and green energy solutions.

 

Featured image via The Chatham News & Record

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