Hyundai has made no secret of the fact that it wants to build an electric vehicle manufacturing facility in the United States. It announced $7.4-billion in investments across the US by 2025, destined for both upgrading its existing factories, but also building the all-important new one that will only build EVs.
The new plant will build both Hyundai- and Kia-badged EVs and back in May of 2013, when the manufacturer announced the expansion plan, it said production would start in 2022. Hyundai has also not given up on hydrogen, and it wants to help popularize this type of powertrain in the US in the future - the new facility may also act as a hub for the automaker’s hydrogen plans for America.
And now it looks like the location for the future plant has is close to being chosen - the state of Georgia, according to Automotive News. They say the information comes directly from Hyundai COO Jose Muñoz who declined to share more information, especially about which sites were being considered for the new factory.
All Muñoz said was
We are excited to announce a new EV plant plan in the United States soon, but we do not have details to share at this stage.
Full plans will apparently be revealed later this month, the announcement coinciding with President Joe Biden’s visit to Seoul, South Korea; he is to meet the new president of the country, Yoon Suk-yeol, on May 21, and it sounds like a great opportunity to make it official.
Choosing Georgia may also have something to do with the fact that Hyundai’s battery supplier, SK, recently completed work on battery plants in the state, creating some 2,600 jobs (out of a planned 10,000 new jobs that will be created in the longer term) in Jackson County. This is part of a $2.6-billion investment in the state by SK.
Hyundai wants to sell 1.87-million EVs annually and introduce 17 new EVs (6 for the Genesis brand) by 2030. Sister brand Kia also announced the introduction of an impressive number of new electric models (some of which will be built on a new shared platform) and even sooner than Hyundai - 14 by 2027, with plans to sell 1.2-million EVs by 2030.
