According to Reuters, on November 27, Hyundai Motor Company, in a regulatory filing, announced its plans to temporarily halt production at its Yashan plant in South Korea from December 31, 2023, to February 13, 2024, for the construction of an electric vehicle (EV) factory. Hyundai intends to resume production at the Yashan plant on February 14.
Despite speculations of a slowing market, Hyundai Motor continues to ramp up production of electric vehicles. Earlier this month, top executives of Hyundai Motor stated ahead of the Los Angeles Auto Show that the company still sees strong demand for electric vehicles. Hyundai revealed plans to pause operations at its Yashan plant as it shifts its business focus towards electric vehicles.
Jose Munoz, the Global President of Hyundai Motor, explained, "I remain very bullish on battery-electric vehicles," emphasizing that sales of electric vehicles have doubled year-on-year. In the third quarter of this year, Hyundai surpassed both Ford and General Motors, ranking second in the U.S. electric vehicle market. Data from Automotive News indicates that Hyundai and its sister company Kia captured a 7.5% share of the U.S. electric vehicle market.
Currently, Tesla maintains market dominance with a 57.4% share, but Hyundai's IONIQ 5 and Kia's EV6 set new sales records in October. Despite not qualifying for the IRS electric vehicle tax credit (only available through leasing), Hyundai has experienced growth, and the company plans to change this situation.
Munoz stated, "From what I observe, we need more capacity. If we had more capacity today, we could sell more cars." In October of last year, Hyundai began construction of its first electric vehicle and battery plant in the United States, with 99.9% of the groundwork completed. Munoz revealed that Hyundai is "doing its best" to complete it by October next year.
Once the $5.5 billion U.S. factory starts large-scale production, Hyundai expects to manufacture 300,000 electric vehicles annually. Meanwhile, Hyundai broke ground on a new electric vehicle plant in Ulsan, South Korea, two weeks ago. Therefore, the company decided to temporarily halt operations at its main Yashan plant to focus on construction.
The new Ulsan plant is expected to be completed by 2025 and will have the capacity to produce 200,000 electric vehicles per year once operational. The facility is located at Hyundai Motor's major Ulsan integrated plant, capable of producing 1.4 million vehicles annually. Hyundai currently produces gasoline-powered versions of Sonata, Grandeur, and IONIQ 6 (which began production last year) at the facility.
