North Carolina threw $766 million at VinFast’s promised factory, but two years later there’s just dirt and partial foundations. The Vietnamese automaker, bleeding $2.1 billion annually while operating at 12% capacity back home, hasn’t started real construction despite a 2024 deadline that’s now pushed to late 2025. If VinFast doesn’t deliver 7,500 jobs and actual building progress by 2026, the state can snatch back the 1,765-acre site. The details get worse from there.
While North Carolina taxpayers have already shelled out $96 million preparing a massive site for VinFast‘s electric vehicle factory, the Vietnamese automaker hasn’t even started real construction yet.
The state’s burning through an estimated $766 million total appropriation on this gamble, which includes $450 million for roads, water, and sewers. Nice.
Here’s the kicker: if VinFast doesn’t hit its deadlines by 2026, North Carolina can snatch back the entire 1,765-acre site. The company promised 7,500 jobs over five years and 150,000 vehicles annually.
VinFast’s on the clock: miss 2026 deadlines and North Carolina takes back everything.
But drive by the Chatham County location today, and you’ll see basically nothing. Some partial foundation work, maybe. No workers around during February 2025 visits. Just emptiness where a factory should be humming by now.
The timeline keeps slipping. Initially, they said 2024. Then March 2023 rolled around, and suddenly it’s 2025. Now they’re talking about finishing “principal construction” before 2025 ends, which sounds pretty optimistic given the current state of things.
Environmental permits are stuck with the Army Corps of Engineers, who want more information on VinFast’s 284-page application. Wetlands and waterways, you know.
Meanwhile, the money keeps flowing out. Between state and county sources, incentives exceed $1.2 billion. Chatham County’s kicking in $400 million, including $125 million for site prep that might get clawed back.
The state’s dangling a $316 million grant over 32 years, but only if those jobs materialize. Drop below 3,875 hires, that’s less than half the promise, and the clawbacks start.
VinFast’s track record doesn’t exactly inspire confidence. They lost $2.1 billion last year. Their Vietnam plant’s running at 12% capacity, delivering just 35,000 cars when it could make 300,000. Of those deliveries, over 70% went to companies owned by their own CEO Pham Nhat Vuong, not actual customers.
They’ve recalled thousands of vehicles, fired their U.S. CFO and sales executives, and delayed their IPO. A whistleblower even claims their vehicles might fall apart while driving. The NHTSA opened investigations into VinFast’s VF8 model after receiving 28 complaints about flawed Lane Keep Assist systems malfunctioning.
The state used eminent domain to grab properties, including Merry Oaks Baptist Church and two businesses.
Four homes got bought, more negotiations ongoing. All this disruption for what? A company that might not even survive long enough to build anything substantial on that expensive dirt.