Hyundai to set up new plant in the US and update existing one

HyundaiSouth Korean automotive maker Hyundai plans to invest US$388 million to build a plant in Alabama, US. The 24,000-sq-m plant will include an engine head manufacturing plant, and it will also utilise this investment to enhance its assembly plant in Montgomery. The investment is the company’s biggest in the assembly/manufacturing plant since it opened its US$1.7 billion plant in 2005.

The new facility, scheduled to be operational by mid-2019, will create 50 new jobs.

The company is investing in new manufacturing technologies at the plant, Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama President/CEO Dong Ryeol Choi has been quoted to have said. The investments will support operations for making new models of Sonata and Elantra sedans.

Hyundai announced in March that its redesigned Santa Fe SUV would be assembled entirely at its facility in Montgomery, to reverse a trend that had the plant decrease its overall production. For several years, the plant made only Sonata and Elantra sedans.

The plant has nearly 3,000 full-time employees.