VinFast, a Vietnamese automaker, aims to manufacture electric vehicle battery cells and packs in a new U.S. manufacturing complex, according to its global chief executive, as the firm pledges to become an all-electric automaker by the end of this year.
When gasoline-powered models made under its own logo reached the streets in 2019, VinFast, a subsidiary of Vingroup JSC, the country's largest corporation, became the country's first full-fledged domestic automobile manufacturer.
The business, which began selling electric vehicles in Vietnam at the end of 2021, said in a statement on Thursday that it wanted to be the first to stop producing gasoline-powered vehicles.
VinFast is placing a large bet on the American market, where it expects that its electric SUVs and a battery leasing plan will be enough to lure customers away from Tesla and General Motors.
"We will develop our gigafactory in the United States as well," Le Thi Thu Thuy, Vingroup vice chair and VinFast Global CEO, stated in an interview during her visit to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, alluding to the new battery plant.
She went on to say that the company would continue to get batteries from its suppliers.
VinFast will first build battery packs with cells received from its supplier at its U.S. facility before beginning its own production there, according to Thuy.
"We've reduced it down from over 50 sites to roughly three," she explained.
She plans to tour several locations during her trip before making a decision this year, and she says the "mega site" will include an electric bus plant.
Vingroup said in December that it had begun construction on a battery cell facility in Vietnam. With a $174 million investment, the company hopes to make 100,000 battery packs per year at first, and subsequently increase capacity to one million.
VinFast earlier told Reuters that it planned to begin producing electric cars in the United States in late 2024.
