Hyundai Motor Group Brings EV Manufacturing to United States
The Hyundai Motor Group (the parent company of Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis), has been extremely bullish on EVs. The company continues to introduce electric vehicles to the US and other markets even while other automakers have paused to reassess their electrification strategies.
For the US market that has created an issue. All three automakers have been building their EVs in Korea and are therefore not eligible for the US EV incentives that make Tesla, GM, and Ford vehicles up to $7,500 cheaper for potential buyers. A workaround has been to lease the vehicles, a loophole that allows the dealer to cut $7,500 off the price of the vehicle and reduce the monthly payments. Plus, both Kia and Hyundai have been aggressive with cash-back incentives and zero-interest rate loans.
The goal has been to begin manufacturing in the United States and in the past two weeks, both Kia and Hyundai have announced that EVs will be built or are currently being built at US factories.
On May 30, Kia announced that assembly had behind on the 2025 Kia EV9 in West Point Georgia. The EV joins the Telluride, Sorento and Sportage that the facility is already building for the US market.
On June 3, Hyundai announced that the Ioniq 5 EV would be built at the company's Metaplant in Georgia. The plant itself is still under construction but will come online in October of 2024 with Ioniq 5 assembly beginning soon after.
Both vehicles are posting huge sales numbers as EVs for their respective automakers. Building them in the United States not only reduces the shipping costs of the vehicles, but both Kia and Hyundai can benefit from the same incentives that Ford, Tesla, Rivian, and GM have enjoyed.
It's also good news for those looking at sustainable careers in the automotive world. If the Hyundai Motor Group continues to find success in the EV market, other automakers will follow suit. While EV adoption has slowed slightly, the growth of the market has continued regardless of the insinuation of some headlines.
During a recent unveiling of the Kia EV3 electric crossover that's expected in the US market in 2025, when asked about Kia's EV push, Ho-sung Song president and CEO of Kia told SAE that globally, EV sales make up 11 percent of global automobile sales. In the United States, that number is 7 percent while in China it is 24 percent.
Outside of China, the market is still in the early stages. However the CEO believes once the market moves beyond the early adopters to "majority" customers, the speed of transitioning to electrification will be fast. It's why the company is launching volume models of EVs. "We can meet the expectations of early majority customers," the CEO said.
The goal is to be ready. As for the $35,000 EV3 that's coming to the US in 2025, Kia hasn't announced if it will be built in the United States at launch. But if it continues to see strong growth in the EV market for its current electric vehicles, it won't be surprising to see a low-price EV with a Kia badge coming out of Georgia.