(New York) South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group said on Friday it will invest about $5.5 billion to manufacture electric vehicles and electric batteries at a major site in the east coast state of Georgia. the United States.
Posted at 5:26 p.m.
The group’s subcontractors will invest an additional $1 billion in the project, the office of state governor Brian Kemp also said.
The project should in total create 8,100 jobs.
This announcement comes as US President Joe Biden is visiting South Korea.
Construction of the car manufacturing plant will begin in early 2023 with the goal of starting production of the first vehicles for sale in 2025. The eventual goal is to manufacture 300,000 units there per year.
Hyundai will later detail which models the group plans to produce in the state of Georgia.
By building a battery factory at the same time, the company “seeks to establish a stable supply chain and build a healthy ecosystem for electric vehicles in the United States”, details a press release.
The site, acquired last year by the state of Georgia and a local economic development authority, is located near two major highways and less than 50 kilometers from the Port of Savannah.
The group says it chose to settle in this state for “a series of conditions favorable to companies, including the speed of the start-up of projects, a talented workforce, as well as the presence of subsidiaries and suppliers. of the group “. Its subsidiary Kia has set up a factory there.
“We decided to build our first factory dedicated to electric vehicles in the United States because America values change and drives innovation,” Group Chief Executive Jaehoon Chang said in the statement.
The American manufacturer of electric pick-ups, SUVs and vans Rivian has also chosen the state for its second factory in the United States, in which it plans to invest $5 billion.
Hyundai Motor aims to become the third-largest electric vehicle supplier in the country by 2026 but will face intense competition.
The sector is still dominated by Tesla, but the traditional manufacturers General Motors and Ford have planned to invest tens of billions of dollars to increase their offer in the coming years and many start-ups are trying to find a place in this niche.