Hyundai's U.S. investment commitments double to $10.5 billion

Industry

Published: 22 May. 2022, 16:29 Updated: 22 May. 2022, 19:28

Hyundai's U.S. investment commitments double to $10.5 billion

Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Euisun Chung shakes hands with U.S. President Joe Biden during a meeting held at the Grand Hyatt Seoul in Yongsan, central Seoul, on Sunday. [HYUNDAI MOTOR]

Hyundai Motor Group announced a $5 billion investment in the United States through 2025 for innovative mobility technologies, a day after announcing a similarly sized investment to build an electric vehicle (EV) plant in Georgia.

The announcement was made by Chairman Euisun Chung Sunday morning during his meeting with U.S. President Joe Biden held at Grand Hyatt Seoul in Yongsan, central Seoul.

"Hyundai Motor Group plans to invest an additional $5 billion through 2025, which will strengthen our collaboration with American enterprises in diverse technologies, such as robotics, urban air mobility, autonomous driving and artificial intelligence," said Chung. "In total, this makes the sum of our new U.S. investment to over $10 billion."

"We also stand ready to work towards achieving the Biden Administration's goal of achieving 40 to 50 percent zero-emission EV sales in the United States by 2030."

The investment plan came a day after the company announced its intention to spend $5.54 billion to build an EV factory and a battery-cell plant in Georgia. The Georgia factory will be built on a 2,923-acre site in Bryan County, Georgia, around 400 kilometers (250 miles) from an existing Kia factory.

It is the group's first EV-dedicated facility in the United States.

Groundbreaking is scheduled for early 2023, with the goal of starting production in the first half of 2025. Annual capacity will be around 300,000 units.

The new factory is expected to create about 8,100 new jobs, the group said.

"Workers in Georgia who will build these plants and manufacture this new electric battery technology means economic opportunity for an awful lot of Americans," Biden said.

"Electric vehicles are good for our climate goals, but they're also good for jobs. And they're good for business," He added. "Chairman Chung, thank you again for choosing United States. We won't let you down."

The meeting between Chung and Biden was originally planned for 10 minutes, but extended to around 50 minutes, Hyundai said.

Hyundai's latest investments are in line with the company's plan of investing a total of $7.4 billion in the United States through 2025. The country is the third largest EV market after China and Germany.

Hyundai Motor owns a plant in Montgomery, Alabama, in which only combustion engine cars are being made so far. The automaker recently said it will spend $300 million on the plant to update the existing assembly line to start making EVs there starting from the second half.

Production of the Santa Fe Hybrid will begin in Alabama in October. The Electrified GV70 will be manufactured there from December. The expansion will create 200 new jobs, according to the carmaker.

Kia runs a plant in Georgia, and Hyundai Motor owns about 33.9 percent of Kia.

Hyundai and Kia aim to sell a total of 3.23 million EVs globally in 2030, gaining a combined market share of 12 percent.

Hyundai Motor plans to have 18 EV models through 2030, including those from its luxury Genesis brand. Ioniq 6 is expected to be released this year, with Ioniq 7 next year.

Kia will release a total of 13 EV models during the same period.

The group did not provide a breakdown on which companies would be making the investments and what their stakes will be in the new factory and other investments.

BY SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]