Lego will build its first factory in the United States, in Richmond, Virginia, with an estimated investment of US$1 billion, the Danish toy maker announced on Monday.
Lego expects the factory to greatly increase its sales in one of the world's biggest toy markets. “If we look at the potential in the US, we still have a long way to go,” Lego’s US Chief Operating Officer, Carsten Rasmussen, told Bloomberg news agency.
The colourful plastic bricks are much less popular on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean than in Europe. ““We are already strong on the east coast and in the north, but there is still a lot of potential elsewhere,” Rasmussen said “We think we can succeed in the coming years.”
The Danish company is vying for the world’s top spot in the toy world, alongside US giants Mattel and Hasbro. Although Lego has doubled its sales across the Atlantic in the past four years, there is still plenty of room for growth, especially in the US south. “We want to have extra capacity ready when demand picks up,” the Lego COO said. He added that marketing campaigns would also be “more regionally tinted.”
The Richmond, Virginia factory, which is expected to be completed by 2025, will employ around 1,800 people.
Currently, the US market is supplied from Mexico, where Lego already has a plant.
The group recently opened a new factory in Vietnam, joining those in Hungary, the Czech Republic, Mexico, China and Denmark.
