Hyundai, Kia, Genesis Meta Manufacturing facility Go to Exhibits They Are Ready For The Future

May 24, 2025

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I used to be invited not too long ago to come back to lovely Savannah, Georgia, to each tour the brand new Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America (HMGMA) and drive the brand new IONIQ 9, a brand new giant and opulent SUV from Hyundai. Hyundai Motor Group means Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis (all of which have separate designers and advertising organizations). The three totally different manufacturers can use the manufacturing facility to construct their automobiles their to promote into the US market (and export if they want). It’s good timing that they opened the manufacturing facility at about the identical time Trump was elected, since we at the moment are seeing him enhance tariffs on many imported items, together with automobiles and auto components.

The state of affairs is sort of dynamic, however Hyundai Motor Group is glad to have three factories within the US. It constructed a manufacturing facility in Montgomery, Alabama, in 2005; a Kia plant in West Level, Georgia, began in 2006; and their latest manufacturing facility that this text is about is in Savannah, Georgia.

Be aware: I wrote in regards to the IONIQ 9 right here.

This isn’t the best photograph, however I included it as a result of it reveals the huge scale of the biggest auto manufacturing facility in America.

This reveals the aim of every constructing. The battery plant remains to be in development.

I used to be impressed with the automated blue automobile transports (look beneath the automobile physique) that each moved the automobiles from station to station and likewise delivered components to the road.

Right here, a Boston Dynamics canine robotic is on either side of the car inspecting the physique for defects.

Listed below are extra of these blue transports. They don’t want wires within the ground to information them like they used to a few years in the past (once I noticed that at an IBM manufacturing facility I labored at). They’ve QR codes printed on the ground at varied locations they usually learn these to find out the place they’re.

They’ve the workstations and break areas very near the road, so that they don’t need to stroll lengthy distances to get there, maximizing the time they get to get pleasure from their breaks.

Conclusion

The Hyundai Group appears to be effectively positioned to climate the dramatic adjustments within the US auto market. From a product standpoint, they’ve a broad vary of sedans, SUVs, and even a pickup. So, they aren’t depending on one or two kinds of automobiles just like the “Large Three” that dropped their sedans. They haven’t jumped from fuel automobiles to electrical automobiles, however are attempting to supply clients their alternative of fuel, hybrid, plug-in hybrid, or full electrical automobiles.

I do suppose they may drop their non-hybrid fuel automobiles like BYD has finished and Toyota is step by step doing, for the reason that price premium for hybrids is minimal now. If we get a brand new administration in 2028 that’s professional electrical car, Hyundai has the fashionable and environment friendly designs that it could possibly ramp up. If the US continues to stay hostile to electrical automobiles, it should nonetheless develop, simply extra slowly. Hyundai wants nice electrical automobiles to be aggressive anyplace else on this planet, so I believe there’s little danger it should abandon them.

Pivoting again to my manufacturing facility go to, the factor that made the largest impression on me was Hyundai Group’s concern for its staff and making a clear, protected, quiet, and pleasurable place for them to work. I believe that may pay dividends for the corporate for years to come back because it will get a fame as a great place to work within the native space.

Disclosure: I’m a shareholder in Tesla [TSLA], BYD [BYDDY], Nio [NIO], XPeng [XPEV], NextEra Power [NEP], and a number of other ARK ETFs. However I supply no funding recommendation of any type right here.

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