Hyundai Motor to boost US presence with $5.5 bn new Georgia EV plant

Hyundai Motor Co. broke ground on a $5.54 billion electric vehicle and battery plant in the US state of Georgia on Tuesday, as the top South Korean automaker aims to further enhance its presence in the world’s second-largest car market.

The new manufacturing plant, Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America LLC (HMGMA), to be built on a 2,923-acre site in Bryan County, west of Savannah, will have an annual production capacity of 300,000 electric vehicles, Hyundai said on Wednesday.

Construction will begin early next year with an aim to start commercial production in the first half of 2025, it said.

The investment, which is expected to create more than 8,100 new jobs over the next five years, is the largest in the US state’s history.

The new factory, located near Hyundai’s existing plant in Alabama and affiliate Kia Corp.’s Georgia plant, will produce EVs for the Korean automotive group’s three brands – Hyundai, its premium brand Genesis and Kia.

In return for the investment, Georgia plans to provide various incentives such as property tax cuts. Local authorities under the state government will also offer subsidies for the construction of a power plant and roads leading to the EV factory.

“Today, our EVs are recognized as best in their class, and with this partnership, we are determined to become the global leader in electrification, safety, quality and sustainability,” said Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Euisun at the ground-breaking ceremony.

“With Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America, we will continue to evolve beyond being an automaker to the world’s leading mobility solutions provider.”

From the US side, Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, a Republican, and the state’s two US senators, Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock, both Democrats, attended the ceremony.

"Our partnership with Hyundai Motor Group and the groundbreaking of this innovative facility exemplifies that unprecedented success,” said Governor Kemp.

HYUNDAI’S US EV HUB

With the new Georgia plant, Hyundai aims to solidify its position as one of the top three EV players in the US.

Hyundai, together with Kia, plans to sell 3.23 million fully electric vehicles annually by 2030 worldwide – a volume that will account for about 12% of the global EV market.

In the US, the two automaking units of Hyundai Motor Group aim to sell 840,000 electric cars annually by 2030. In the first nine months of this year, the two companies sold a combined 47,095 EVs in the US, up 212% from the same period a year ago.

The group’s EVs accounted for 4.3% of its total US sales, including combustion-engine cars, in the January-September period, up from 1.3% a year earlier.

Hyundai’s EV push is in line with the Biden administration’s goal of 40-50% zero-emission vehicle sales in the US by 2030.

Globally, Hyundai Motor plans to roll out 18 EV models by 2030, including six Genesis cars, with Kia slated to release 13 EVs by then.

SMART FACTORY

Hyundai said the Georgia plant will be a smart factory, with all processes of production, including order collection, parts procurement and logistics, optimized with the help of artificial intelligence and robots.

As part of the group’s commitment to sustainability, the plant will primarily rely on renewable energy sources to power the facility and use emission-reduction technologies to meet the RE100 requirements, it said.

Hyundai said it will partner with a battery maker to build a new battery cell plant near the Georgia factory to establish a stable supply chain for batteries and other EV components in the US.

Korea’s LG Energy Solution Ltd. and SK On Co., a unit of SK Innovation Co., will likely be the main candidates for Hyundai’s battery partner, industry officials said.

The carmaker also plans to build new EV-dedicated factories in Korea.

Hyundai Motor will build a new EV line at its main plant in Ulsan while Kia will construct an EV plant for purpose-built vehicles (PBVs) in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province near Seoul.

Both plants are scheduled for mass production in 2025.

With all the planned domestic EV factories up and running, Hyundai Motor Group aims to manufacture 1.44 million EVs annually in Korea.

Write to Il-Gue Kim at Black0419@hankyung.com
In-Soo Nam edited this article.