ATLANTA — that will invest $200 million in a plant in Georgia to begin production of an electric SUV, the company announced Wednesday.
The South Korean company said it will hire an additional 200 workers to begin production of its full-size EV9 at West Point in early 2024. The company said it will expand overall production at a plant near the state. Alabama, southwest of Atlanta. Kia says the plant currently produces 340,000 vehicles a year, including TellurideSorrento and sport SUVs and K5 sedans.
Kia has 3,000 employees at the plant. Spokesman Patrick Sands said the EV9 will be built on the same assembly lines as other vehicles and Kia is investing to assemble the electric powertrain.
hyundai Motor Group, Kia’s mother, is pushing hard on tram. Hyundai is sprinting to complete a $5.5 billion electric vehicle assembly plant And the battery in Ellabell, Georgia, near Savannah. The company also invested $300 million in a Montgomery, Alabama plant to begin electric vehicle production there, starting with Electric Genesis GV70 SUVs. Hyundai also hired 200 more workers for that Alabama investment.
Kia leaders have said they hope the EV9, with its three rows of seats, will bring the same sales to the company as what the big Telluride did for the brand when it began rolling off the assembly line at West Point in 2019. Kia started delivering EV9s to customers in South Korea last month.
“Like the Telluride, the EV9 has the potential to be another change catalyst for Kia,” Sean Yoon, President and CEO of Kia Motors America, said in a statement. “It will be the most innovative vehicle we have ever built and will stand out in the electric vehicle market and on the road.”
The investment comes even as Georgia Governor Brian Kemp and Hyundai complain that the federal electric vehicle tax credits are unfair to the Korean manufacturer because its vehicles are only eligible if they lease. Domestic content standard of Inflation Reduction Actis pumping billions of dollars into electric vehicle subsidies, which only apply tax incentives to electric vehicle purchases when the vehicle, battery and key raw materials in the battery are all manufactured in the United States.
Hyundai has announced that it will cooperate in a battery factory in Cartersvillenorthwest of Atlanta.
Georgia has been the biggest beneficiary of the nationwide electric vehicle investment boom, with more than 40 electric vehicle-related projects as of 2020 pledging $22.9 billion in investments and 28,600 jobs. in this state. Kemp has said he and other Georgia officials should be given credit, while Democratic Senator Jon Ossoff debated the policies of President Joe Biden is fueling the boom.
Georgia will pay to train workers for the Kia expansion. The company says on its website that production workers start at $38,000 a year, with pay increases and extra pay for evening shifts.
Kia may qualify for the $1.75 million state income tax credit, at $1,750 per job for five years, as long as the worker earns at least $31,300 a year. The company may qualify for other incentives, including property tax relief from West Point and Troup County.
Kia has received more than $450 million in incentives for its West Point plant, which opened in 2010. West Point’s financial statements show that in 2019, Kia, its affiliates and suppliers received $2.8 million in property tax relief from the city alone.
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