EV maker VinFast, led by Vietnam's richest man, to invest $2 billion in India

Vietnamese electric-vehicle maker VinFast Auto Ltd. signed an agreement with an Indian state to invest as much as $2 billion as it seeks to break into the world's third-largest automobile market.

The agreement will pave the way for VinFast to set up an integrated electric-vehicle facility in the southern state of Tamil Nadu, the company said in a statement. The initial investment will be $500 million, it said, without giving more details.

CEO change announced

The firm appointed Pham Nhat Vuong, founder and chairman of parent company Vingroup Joint Stock Company, as the new chief executive officer, the company said in a statement as reported by Bloomberg on Saturday.

Current CEO Le Thi Thu Thuy will become head of the board of directors. The company also named Nguyen Thi Lan Anh as chief financial officer, replacing David Mansfield.

Vuong, Vietnam's richest man, will now directly oversee the operations of VinFast, including global production, sales, and marketing. VinFast, which went public in the US in August by merging with blank-check company Black Spade Acquisition Co., reported a wider loss in the third quarter.

India plans

Construction of the facility is targeted to start this year, the company said. The project will have an annual capacity of as much as 150,000 units, it said.

The company, which is constructing a $2 billion manufacturing complex in North Carolina and planning a factory in Indonesia, seeks to aggressively move into Southeast Asian markets and wants to eventually raise "a lot of capital" to fuel global expansion, Thuy told Bloomberg in October.

VinFast went public in the US in August by merging with blank-check company Black Spade Acquisition Co., and reported a wider loss in the third quarter.

The automaker began selling EVs in the US in early 2023 and planned its first European deliveries in the fourth quarter of last year.