Triangle Innovation Point Megasite Chatham County

[KJHburg]

Sitework on the Vinfast site has starting and vertical construction will start early next year as reported in the Triangle Biz Journal.

""VinFast is ramping up in Chatham County as it nears construction of its massive electric vehicle manufacturing plant.

The company is about 35 percent done with site work at Triangle Innovation Point, said Brook Taylor, VinFast vice president of government relations and strategic partnerships, during a Chatham County Board of Commissioners meeting on Oct. 17.

"Our permits are already underway, and our plan is to start construction Q1 of 2023, of course pending approval by the county commission here," Taylor told the commissioners.""

https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2022/10/24/vinfast-chatham-when-construction-will-start.html

[KJHburg]

Well this does not sound good big delay with Vinfast plant in TIP in southern Chatham County. 

""VinFast won't open its North Carolina factory until at least 2025 in a move that represents the first major delay for the automaker's ambitious plans in Chatham County, the company disclosed in a regulatory filing Friday.

"Because we need more time to complete administrative procedures, VinFast's EV factory project in North Carolina is expected to start production from 2025," said a VinFast spokesperson.  When announcing the grand plans for a huge assembly plant at the Triangle Innovation Point megasite in Chatham in March 2022, the Vietnamese company said the goal was to open its North Carolina factory in July 2024 – a rapid timeline that raised eyebrows at the time given the company's relatively unproven status ""

 

https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2023/03/10/vinfast-chatham-nc-factory-opening-delayed.html

[DownEast]

Summer '24 never seemed realistic to begin with. I know they got their Vietnam facility up and running pretty quickly, but in the US...? Not a chance. Hopefully no more delays. 

[nicholas]

I highly highly doubt Vinfast survives more than five years (at least in the US).  Tesla was an extreme anomaly that benefited from being in the right place at the exact right time with an enigmatic leader.  Now that the legacy automakers are beginning to roll out EVs, the window of opportunity for electric startups has all but slammed shut.  It will likely take an industry-altering breakthrough in battery range or vehicle cost for a newcomer to survive at this point, and I will be stunned if any other recent electric startups are still around in 2030 aside from Lucid and Rivian, and even those aren't sure bets at this point.

Obviously I'm not rooting for Vinfast to fail but I've followed cars for basically my whole life and there's a reason why we hardly ever see brand new automakers.  It's next to impossible to break into a literally trillion dollar industry without existing name recognition.  Especially in today's market where buyers demand so much from their cars, and put a far too much emphasis on the status and image that their cars project.

[KJHburg]

16 minutes ago, nicholas said:

I highly highly doubt Vinfast survives more than five years (at least in the US).  Tesla was an extreme anomaly that benefited from being in the right place at the exact right time with an enigmatic leader.  Now that the legacy automakers are beginning to roll out EVs, the window of opportunity for electric startups has all but slammed shut.  It will likely take an industry-altering breakthrough in battery range or vehicle cost for a newcomer to survive at this point, and I will be stunned if any other recent electric startups are still around in 2030 aside from Lucid and Rivian, and even those aren't sure bets at this point.

Obviously I'm not rooting for Vinfast to fail but I've followed cars for basically my whole life and there's a reason why we hardly ever see brand new automakers.  It's next to impossible to break into a literally trillion dollar industry without existing name recognition.  Especially in today's market where buyers demand so much from their cars, and put a far too much emphasis on the status and image that their cars project.

I have my doubts too but lets see.  I think these EV car manufacturers will consolidate much like the early car makers in the USA.  Toyota could snap a plant like this up or even buy a smaller EV rival.  No one is sure how this is going to shake out.  Hyundai and the Korea manufacturers are the last Asian car companies to "make it" in the US.  So who knows at this point and my thoughts about EVs in general they will not be adopted at the rate many people project not at the current premium they have.   You are probably too young to remember the short lived Yugo from the old Yugoslavia LOL.  

[nicholas]

41 minutes ago, KJHburg said:

I have my doubts too but lets see.  I think these EV car manufacturers will consolidate much like the early car makers in the USA.  Toyota could snap a plant like this up or even buy a smaller EV rival.  No one is sure how this is going to shake out.  Hyundai and the Korea manufacturers are the last Asian car companies to "make it" in the US.  So who knows at this point and my thoughts about EVs in general they will not be adopted at the rate many people project not at the current premium they have.   You are probably too young to remember the short lived Yugo from the old Yugoslavia LOL.  

I am familiar with Yugo but don't think I've ever seen one in person.  Even legendary European automakers such as Alfa Romeo and Fiat and Maserati have struggled mightily to reestablish themselves in America after periods of not selling vehicles here.

Hyundai/Kia made their entry into the US back when buyers weren't so demanding, and could still carve out a niche as being the discount player against relatively more established competition from the likes of Honda, Toyota, and similar.  Many entry-level cars back in the 80s/early 90s didn't come standard with air conditioning or even power steering, two features that are essentially required equipment in all cars today regardless of price point, which opened the door just enough for the Koreans to squeeze through.  The automotive landscape is so different now that new automakers (especially electric ones) either have to be the first to market with something, offer substantially greater range than anyone else, or offer a substantially lower price.  And Vinfast offers literally none of that (its ridiculous "buy the car but lease the battery" pricing strategy only looks good on paper), plus comes from a country with basically no well-known international conglomerates, and has a terrible name (sounds like a scammy Carfax ripoff).  Vinfast's business plan has seemingly changed abruptly several times in only a few years of operation, and much of what I have read suggests that there is an incredible amount of respect in Vietnam granted to anyone who can sell a product in America, which is resulting in Vinfast's goal being more or less that they want to sell a car in America compared to actually producing a good car that can be sold in America at some point in the future.   A bunch of Chinese automakers have been trying to break into the American market for about two decades now with no success whatsoever aside from buying Volvo and Lotus.

Agree that there will likely be a lot of consolidation eventually.  I think there is a lot of ignorance among EV fans of how similar EVs are as they have very few distinguishing characteristics aside from styling and gimmicky features.  Falcon doors and crab walking abilities can only set your company apart so much.  ICE vehicles have historically offered a huge array of configurations between body style, engine size and type (currently you can buy vehicles powered by I3, I4, F4, I5, I6, V6, F6, V8, V10, V12, W12, and even W16 engines), natural aspiration or forced induction (turbocharged/supercharged) or a hybrid combination, fuel type, driven wheels (FWD or AWD or 4WD or RWD), transmission (manual or automatic, but everyone should drive a manual imo), electric power steering vs hydraulic power steering, and so on.  All of those combinations can make ICE cars look, feel, and sound incredibly different from each other, though further and further governmental regulations are forcing increasingly homogeneous ICE offerings..  EVs basically just offer a choice of body style and in some cases driven wheels, but almost everything else is functionally the same.  Lots of torque but no character from the EVs I have ridden in.  Personally just think the push towards EVs will hurt urban environments as it will make it easier for people to rationalize sprawl and traffic and congestion (due to EVs being less pollutive) and will continue the cycle of having to build/widen roads, instead of investing in other methods of transit that will give people the option to not have to drive at all.

[KJHburg]

from the Triangle Biz Journal today

""VinFast is planning to build a more than 2.8 million-square-foot electric vehicle factory in Chatham, according to new site plans submitted to the county.

The site permit, filed earlier this week, includes eight buildings. The largest of those is a 955,000-square-foot general assembly building, followed by the body shop at slightly under 800,000 square feet.   

Here are the other buildings that will be on the campus, per the site plan:

Paint shop – 513,200 square feet

Press shop – 497,950 square feet

Central energy plant – 33,900 square feet

Waste building – 8,200 square feet

Pump house – 800 square feet

Guard house – 288 square feet""

https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2023/07/14/vinfast-site-plans-chatham-factory-north-carolina.html

[Crucial_Infra]

1 hour ago, KJHburg said:

from the Triangle Biz Journal today

""VinFast is planning to build a more than 2.8 million-square-foot electric vehicle factory in Chatham, according to new site plans submitted to the county.

The site permit, filed earlier this week, includes eight buildings. The largest of those is a 955,000-square-foot general assembly building, followed by the body shop at slightly under 800,000 square feet.   

Here are the other buildings that will be on the campus, per the site plan:

Paint shop – 513,200 square feet

Press shop – 497,950 square feet

Central energy plant – 33,900 square feet

Waste building – 8,200 square feet

Pump house – 800 square feet

Guard house – 288 square feet""

https://www.bizjournals.com/triangle/news/2023/07/14/vinfast-site-plans-chatham-factory-north-carolina.html

That guard house is gonna be epic  

[DCMetroRaleigh]

SANFORD – VinFast has submitted its site plan for the huge electric vehicle assembly plant complex in plans to build in Chatham County – and it’s huge.

In addition to the plan and details for buildings that are part of the site VinFast also provided a rendering of what the main building will look like.

The Vietnam-based manufacturer proposes that the factory complex will cover 2.8 million square feet near Moncure at the  advanced manufacturing site called Triangle Innovation Point. That compares to the 1 million square feet-plus size of Durham-based Wolfspeed’s new semiconductor plant that also is being built in the county.

https://wraltechwire.com/2023/07/14/first-look-vinfast-unveils-rendering-site-plan-for-chatham-county-auto-plant/

 

[KJHburg]

Long awaited groundbreaking scheduled!   July 28.  

https://www.wral.com/story/vinfast-to-hold-groundbreaking-ceremony-in-chatham-county-on-july-28/20960997/

[KJHburg]

well it is has broken ground.

https://wraltechwire.com/2023/07/27/vinfast-to-break-ground-friday-on-4-billion-ev-assembly-plant-in-chatham-county/

[nicholas]

I'll be stunned if this project makes it to completion.  More likely scenario is that Vinfast fails and the site is taken over by a different (established) automaker to produce their own vehicles.

[KJHburg]

about the groundbreaking.  Vinfast is backed by the biggest company in Vietnam and the wealthiest family so I guess we will see.  But this plant is underway.

https://businessfacilities.com/vinfast-kicks-off-4b-ev-complex-in-north-carolina/?oly_enc_id=9918A8536689E2S

[rancenc]

Apparently NC labor costs are not as cheap as was thought!!

https://beststocks.com/vinfast-faces-unexpected-labor-costs-in-north/

[rancenc]

New residential development coming to Chatham County to house some of those workers at the various industrial projects announcement recently.

https://www.bdcnetwork.com/mixed-use-pieces-supporting-master-plan-north-carolina-fall-place

[rancenc]

New YMCA facility coming to Chatham County.  Fitness facility of all those new workers coming to Chatham County!

https://chapelboro.com/news/development/chatham-park-breaks-ground-on-new-ymca-facility

[KJHburg]

Looks like the Vinfast plant will be shrunk somewhat about 200K sq ft to 800,000  sq ft and is awaiting approvals for the revised plan from Chatham County.

Construction paused at VinFast’s NC site as carmaker seeks a smaller footprint (yahoo.com)

speaking of Vinfast I saw these at Crabtree Valley Mall the other day.   This is the first time I have ever seen one. 

[DownEast]

Reading the article doesn't lend much confidence to their future here. I'd love for this to work out but I think they ultimately focus on improving quality back home vs. this production blitz plan. Just hoping this smaller footprint remains larger than my own a month from now. 

Edited April 18 by DownEast