Alabama plant part of Hyundai’s $7.4 billion investment to build electric vehicles
A Hyundai Kona electric sport utility vehicle (SUV) in a cradle on the assembly line at the Hyundai Motor Co. plant in Nosovice, Czech Republic. (Milan Jaros / Bloomberg)
Hyundai Motor Group, which owns both the Hyundai and Kia car brands, said it will build electric vehicles in the U.S. as part of a $7.4 billion investment that also covers hydrogen refueling stations and unmanned flying taxis.
The investments will be made through 2025, Hyundai said in a statement Thursday. It didn’t specify how much money would go to each area. Hyundai Motor Co. confirmed the EVs will be made at its assembly plant in Montgomery. Kia has a factory in West Point, Georgia.
“We’re going to review options, including the expansion of our production facility, after we’ve taken a closer look at market conditions and the U.S. government’s new EV policy,” said Michele Tinson, a U.S.-based spokeswoman for Hyundai. The primary focus for both brands is “ensuring a stable EV supply chain to meet U.S. demand.”
Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama is part of the automaker’s plans to invest $7.4 billion in new EV production. (HMMA)
Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama produces the Sonata and Elantra sedans and the Santa Fe and Tucson SUVs. It is adding its first truck, the Santa Cruz, to the production line this summer. It currently produces no EVs at the plant.
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President Joe Biden’s proposed infrastructure bill allocates $174 billion for charging stations, planned consumer rebates for American-made EVs and a pledge to electrify the government’s fleet. Automakers are betting it could help accelerate a consumer shift to plug-in cars, which made up just 1.8% of new-car sales in the U.S. last year.
Hyundai and Kia have been notching sales records in the U.S. with SUVs like the Kia Telluride and Hyundai Santa Fe. Hyundai’s assembly plant in Alabama is at full capacity, making 400,000 vehicles a year, Chief Operating Officer Jose Munoz said earlier this month.
Hyundai already sells the battery-powered Kona and Ioniq in the U.S., and it’s bringing a new EV, the Ioniq 5, to the U.S. this fall. Kia, which sells the Niro EV in the U.S., will bring the EV6 next year.
The Korean conglomerate will also invest in a refueling demonstration to promote hydrogen-fuel-cell trucks, and set up a new subsidiary, in Washington, D.C., dedicated to urban air mobility, according to the statement.
