Kia invests $200 million to expand plant
Kia is expanding U.S. factory
Kia is expanding its only U.S. factory to make room for its first electric three-row SUV.
In fact, in addition to Kia Motors, more and more companies have begun to invest in electric vehicles and batteries in Georgia.
Electric car maker Rivian Automotive, for example, is building a $5 billion factory in the state, while Hyundai Motor Group and SK On said in December they would collaborate on a new battery manufacturing plant in Georgia for Hyundai Motor Group’s U.S. operations.
The assembly plant provides the battery.
Hyundai Motor Group and SK aim to start operating the new plant in 2025, which stakeholders estimate will create more than 3,500 new jobs in Bartow County, Georgia, through an investment of about $4 billion.
In addition, Hyundai Motor also invested $5.54 billion in Bryan County, Georgia in October last year to build an electric vehicle and battery factory.
Battery maker SK Innovation opened a $2.6 billion battery factory in Commerce County, Georgia, in January 2022 to make batteries for the Ford F-150 Lightning electric vehicle.
Georgia Governor Brian Kemp said that since 2020, Georgia has added $22.7 billion in investment and more than 28,400 new jobs in the electric vehicle supply chain.
This is largely because of the Inflation Reduction Act enacted by the Biden administration last August.
The bill stipulates that in order to receive electric vehicle tax credits of up to $7,500 per vehicle, batteries must be assembled in North America and use battery minerals sourced in North America.
Kia EV9
According to reports, the Kia EV9 will be the first battery electric model produced and assembled by the car company in North America.
Assembly will begin next year at a factory in West Point, Georgia.
On Wednesday local time, Kia announced that it will invest more than 200 million US dollars (currently about 1.434 billion RMB) for expansion and will create nearly 200 new jobs in the area.
The Kia EV9 will be the fifth model assembled at the company’s Georgia plant, but it’s the first fully electric vehicle.
“The EV9 has the potential to be another ‘game changer’ for Kia. It will be one of the most complex vehicles we’ve ever built and will stand out in the EV market,” said Sean Yoon, President and CEO of Kia North America, and most importantly, it will be assembled in West Point, Georgia.”
Unveiled in March this year, the Kia EV9 is Kia’s largest EV to date and Kia’s first three-row electric SUV.
This model is based on Hyundai Motor Group’s 800V E-GMP platform (the same model as IONIQ 5, IONIQ 6 and EV6), which can charge from 10% to 80% in 25 minutes and increase the driving range by 148 miles (approximately 238.18 kilometers).
The EV9 features some of the latest automotive technologies such as Kia’s state-of-the-art navigation for highway driving, OTA updates, on-board generator functionality (V2L) and UWB ultra-wideband-based digital car key.
The EV9 is said to offer “true SUV features,” including 7.8 inches of ground clearance, 81.9 cubic feet of cargo space behind the first row, up to 5,000 pounds of towing capacity, and available torque-vectoring dual-motor all-wheel-drive performance.
The EV9 comes standard with a 76.1 kWh battery (fourth generation) and a 215 hp (160 kW) electric motor; you can also choose a 99.8 kWh battery model with a range of up to 300 miles; for 516 lb-ft.
Although Kia has not announced the price of the US market, based on European prices, the EV9 long-range version starts at about $65,000 to $70,000, and the standard model starts at about $60,000 (currently about 430,000 RMB).
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