The author, John Marek, is a writer and executive director of the Anson Economic Development Partnership.
It is surprising to some that a weekly column written by an economic developer rarely ever directly addresses economic development. The fact is, much of what I do in my role with AnsonEDP is confidential, and I am not at liberty to discuss those things publicly. But today, I am writing about economic development, big-time global-level economic development.
Before coming to Anson County, I spent nine and a half years in Statesville, a small city north of Charlotte. My boss there was Mike Smith, a great guy who taught me much of what I know about economic development. Mike left Statesville behind in early 2016, and I followed him out the door a few months later, arriving here in Wadesboro in October of that year.
Although our careers have taken very different paths, with Mike gravitating toward a major metro and its high-stakes megasites, we have stayed in touch, and he even came to speak at an Anson Chamber dinner a few years back. This past December, one of the sites he promotes was a finalist for a billion-dollar microchip plant that unfortunately chose Ohio instead.
Mike was disappointed by the loss but surprisingly upbeat, alluding to several other projects he was actively working. Today, we all learned what one of those projects was as Vietnamese auto manufacturer VinFast announced they would build a $7 billion assembly plant at the Triangle Industrial Park in Moncure, about a 30-minute drive from downtown Raleigh. That investment and the 7,500 jobs that will potentially come with it may be the most significant overall economic development win in the history of the state.
VinFast, although a relatively new auto manufacturer, is already the largest in Vietnam. While they manufacture various vehicle types in their native country, in the U.S. market, they will offer two electric SUVs, the compact VF8 and the mid-size VF9. Prices for the vehicles have not been set yet, but it is a safe bet they will be similar to other electric vehicles making their way to the U.S. market.
North Carolina is, notoriously, the last of the “New South” states to get a major auto manufacturing plant, but has been very aggressive in courting recent opportunities. The state was reportedly in the mix for the Toyota-Mazda plant that was ultimately awarded to Texas and the Volvo plant that ended up in South Carolina. While VinFast may not have the name recognition of those other brands, it is an up-and-coming player in the electric vehicle market, founded by a billionaire often referred to as the “Vietnamese Elon Musk.”
To land the project, North Carolina is offering more than $800 million in potential incentives. While that sounds like a lot of money – and it IS a lot of money – consider that the annual payroll alone for 7,500 employees earning an average of $51,000 will be more than $382 million, and that doesn’t count the numerous suppliers and service providers that will be supporting the operation. Altogether, this project will likely generate 20,000 direct and indirect jobs and add $1 billion annually to the state’s payroll.
And just like the Toyota battery facility in Greensboro, the VinFast plant, just 90 minutes from our Atlantic Gateway Logistics Park, will create tremendous new opportunities for affiliated suppliers in places like Anson County.