VinFast shifts gears again on the scale of the assembly building

In what could be called a case of whiplash, electric vehicle maker VinFast has once again changed plans for its $4 billion electric vehicle plant in Moncure, Chatham County.

Last week, Carolina Magazine reported that in December 2023, VinFast submitted revised plans that changed the footprint and square footage of its General Assembly building to 782,255 square feet, a scaled-down version of the 995,500-square-foot building that was originally proposed.

Now comes the news that on April 17, the company presented a renovation of their General Assembly building, with a new size of 810,100 square feet.

Kara Lusk, Chatham County’s public information officer, also confirmed to CJ in an emailed statement Monday that the county has up to 30 days to review the plans, and no other amendments have been received for the other buildings.

In July, the county’s Department of Permits and Inspections issued a preliminary approval for the 995,500-square-foot building. The company broke the same ground month at the building, with the North Carolina operation viewed at the time as “the crown jewel of VinFast’s global expansion.” Officials said that 7,500 jobs will be created and 150,000 vehicles per year can be built in Phase 1 of the project.

Lusk told CJ last week that the company did not inform the county of any changes in their capital investment or job creation numbers.

CJ contacted VinFast on April 17 for comment but did not respond before publication of the article.

Mrs. Van Anh Nguyen, CEO of VinFast US Manufacturing, emailed CJ Friday afternoon about why they resized the assembly plant.

“To meet the design needs of the contractor’s technology more precisely, we are revising the specifications of the General Assembly workshop,” he said. “By doing so, we can increase the costs of construction and operation of the factory once it starts working. The overall size of the plant remains unchanged.”

The county also had questions they submitted to the company in December. Nguyen did not address that but said VinFast submitted detailed design documents for the plant to Chatham County earlier this month and hopes to receive approval soon.

“We need significant time to collaborate with the design team and the technology contractor to complete the technical design of the workshop,” he said. “Workshop construction must comply with the equipment/technology procedures of the contractor.”

Lusk said they are currently reviewing a permit application for the 850,564-square-foot store building and a separate application for a commercial water and sewer permit.

The Department of Permits and Inspections, he said, has issued several permits for retaining walls, which are under construction, and also issued business permits to generators. Additionally, a related permit has been issued for the Sanford pump station that will serve VinFast.

The company announced the first plans on February 2022 build on an area of ​​1,800 acres. The plant was scheduled to open in 2024, but was delayed to 2025. Current construction delays could push back the opening even further.

In addition to the assembly plant and equipment shop, a press shop, a central power plant, a paint shop, a guard house, a pump house, and a waste building are also planned to be built.

The company has lost billions of dollars since 2021, despite actions such as the merger of the company and Black Spade Acquisition Company in August, which helped value the company at about $27 billion and an equity value of $23 billion.

The merger may be more trouble than it’s worth, however, as the two law firms jointly filed a a federal securities class action lawsuit on April 12 against the company on behalf of shareholders who allegedly said VinFast’s misleading statements caused them to suffer financially due to securities fraud.

The statements, according to a lawsuit filed by New York City firms Pomerantz LLP and Bronstein and Gewirtz & Grossman LLC, included the amount of money needed to expand the company’s operations and overestimated how many cars the company would deliver last year.

VinFast previously issued a small percentage of its tradable shares, which drove the price to nearly $100 a share in late August. But, the high-profile artificial balloon was eventually deflated, as most SPAC mergers failed.

According to Yale Journal of Managementspecial purpose acquisition companies, or “SPACs,” have delivered poor post-merger returns to shareholders for years.

On Wednesday, VinFast stock traded at $2.62, its lowest since trading began last August.

Under federal law, VinFast shareholders have 90 days to file their claims as the lead plaintiff.