Vietnamese automaker Winfast said it has signed an initial agreement to invest $2 billion initially to build a factory in North Carolina to manufacture batteries for electric buses, sport utility vehicles (SUVs) as well as EVs. has signed.
see photosWinfast Global CEO Michael Lochshaler unveils Winfast e35 SUV
Vietnamese automaker Winfast said on Tuesday that it has agreed to invest $2 billion initially to build a factory in North Carolina to manufacture batteries for electric buses, sport utility vehicles (SUVs) as well as EVs. Preliminary agreement signed.
A unit of Vietnam’s largest conglomerate Winggroup said it plans to invest a total of $4 billion in its first US factory complex.
Construction should begin this year as soon as the company receives the necessary permits, and is expected to be finished by July 2024. The plant’s initial capacity will be 150,000 units per year, Winfast said.
Nguyen Thi Thu, Vice Chairman of Winfast and CEO of Winfast Global, said, “With a manufacturing facility in the US market, Winfast can stabilize prices and reduce product delivery times, making our EV more accessible to customers.” become.”
Winfast has started taking pre-orders globally for the two electric SUVs, aiming to start delivering them in the fourth quarter.
US President Joe Biden said the Winfast investment, which will create more than 7,000 jobs, is “the latest example of my economic strategy at work.”
“This builds on recent announcements from companies like GM, Ford and Siemens to reinvest and create jobs in the US, which set an ambitious goal of having half of new car sales electric by 2030,” Biden said. Is.
It will be North Carolina’s first car plant and is the largest economic development announcement in the state’s history, the governor’s office said in a statement.
Winfast said prices for its VF8 sport SUV start at $41,000 in the United States. By comparison, a Tesla SUV sells for around $63,000. Winfast aims to hit 42,000 global electric vehicle sales this year.
production is difficult
Winfast is betting big on the US market, where it hopes to compete with legacy automakers and startups with affordable electric SUV and battery leasing models.
Other electric vehicle startups such as Rivian and Lucid have slashed their production targets this year due to supply chain disruptions caused by the coronavirus, which has affected their share prices.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said last year, “It is extremely difficult to reach volume production at affordable unit costs.”
Winfast, which became Vietnam’s first full-fledged domestic carmaker in 2019, plans to transition to all-electric vehicle production by the end of 2022.
Outside North America, the company is looking for a plant in Germany, it said in January.
(Reporting by Phuong Nguyen in Vietnam and Hyunju Jin in San Francisco; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama and David Gregorio)
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