EV9 SUV to be Kia’s 1st EV assembled in US

Kia Corp. will spend over $200 million to transform part of its assembly plant in the US state of Georgia to manufacture its second all-electric SUV model, the EV9, from the second quarter of next year, the South Korean carmaker said on Thursday.

The EV9 with three rows of seats is poised to be Kia’s first EV assembled in the US.

It will also become its fifth model to be produced in the US, after the mid-size SUVs Telluride and Sorento, the Sportage crossover SUV and the K5 mid-size sedan.

Thursday’s announcement comes after the carmaker under the Hyundai Motor Group last month started delivering the EV9, which can travel 501 kilometers on a single charge, the longest range in Kia’s EV lineup.

Kia said the over $200 million expansion for EV9 SUV assembly at its West Point plant in Georgia will create 200 jobs, in addition to some 14,000 employees it currently hires there. It has so far injected $1.9 billion into the West Point plant.

It provided no further details such as the estimated production volume of the EV9 at the US factory.

“Like the Telluride, the EV9 has the potential to be another ‘game changer’ for Kia,” Sean Yoon, president and chief executive of Kia North America and Kia America, said in a statement.

“This will be the most sophisticated vehicle that we have ever built and will be a standout in the EV market and on the road."

The EV9 combines all the best elements of the Telluride SUV and the EV6, Kia added. It will sit on the automotive group’s Electric-Global Modular Platform (E-GMP).

Manufacturing the EV9 in the US is part of the carmaker's efforts to comply with the US Inflation Reduction Act.

Under the Act, signed into law in August 2022, EV makers must use batteries made from materials sourced in North America, or in a country of its trading partner, to qualify for US tax credits of up to $7,500 per unit.

Write to Sungsu Bae at baebae@hankyung.com
Yeonhee Kim edited this article.