VinFast, Vietnam’s answer to Tesla, is serious about its operations in India, to the extent that it has opened a vehicle assembly facility. Measuring a gigantic 400 acres, the facility is the first one outside Vietnam—a major step for the automaker.
Located in Tamil Nadu, where VinFast recently opened its first showroom as well, this assembly plant is equipped with multiple workshops such as a body shop, paint shop, assembly shop, quality control centre and a logistics hub. The facility also has an auxiliary cluster for local vendors, expected to grow in the coming years.
When operating at full capacity, the plant should create close to 3,500 direct jobs for local workers, along with thousands of other indirect ones throughout the supply chain ecosystem. In the beginning, the plant will be operational with a starting capacity of 50,000 vehicles per year, which would be scalable up to an annual 1,50,000 units capability.
VinFast will be launching the electric SUVs–VF 6 and VF 7 in India to begin their journey, though we would quite like the compact city car, the VF 3, to get launched here as well. VinFast has stated that it is committed to its Indian operations on a long-term basis, and this assembly plant underscores that commitment.
VinFast has some lofty goals, such as a sales target of 2,00,000 in 2025 as well as a long-term production goal of 10,00,000 (1 million) vehicles per year by 20230, and the new Tamil Nadu plant is another step in this journey by the Vietnamese carmaker, whose story started only in 2017.
