(Reuters) -The chairman of Vietnam’s Vingroup conglomerate said that the company’s vehicle business, VinFast, will seek funding from the United States government to help finance the development of a proposed facility in North Carolina.
“It is one of our funding possibilities as well, but we need to demonstrate our qualification to them,” Vingroup Chairman Pham Nhat Vuong told a group of reporters.
An initial public offering (IPO) was filed by VinFast’s Singapore-based holding company this week. The company is planning to spend $4 billion in the United States to build a plant.
VinFast, which started operations in 2019, is banking heavily on the United States market, where it intends to compete against established manufacturers and startups with two all-electric SUVs and a battery leasing strategy that lowers the purchase price.
Vuong said that VinFast is dedicated to an initial public offering that would help establish the electric car manufacturer as a worldwide brand, but added, “if the circumstances are not perfect, we can wait.”
While we are dedicated to this IPO, the primary objective is not funding but rather establishing VinFast in the worldwide market, “he told the gathering.
Asked about financing from the U.S. government, Vuong said that VinFast was also looking into loans from the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing (AVTM) program.
Congress created the $25 billion fund in 2007 when Detroit-based automakers were on the verge of bankruptcy. According to its website, it is still run by the Department of Energy and has a lending capacity of almost $18 billion.
VinFast has committed to creating 7,500 jobs at its proposed North Carolina facility, which would manufacture the battery-powered VF8 and VF9 SUVs. The business said that it intends to begin building as soon as permission is obtained, with the objective of beginning production by 2024.
In the near future, it plans to start exporting two electric cars to the United States from its factory in Vietnam.
