Montgomery could soon have a secondHyundai plant, according to South Korea’sYonhap News Agency.
Hyundai is reportedly trying to fill a need for more crossover vehicles in the North American market by building new plant that could produce as many as 300,000 sport utility vehicles by as early as 2017.
The company has not made plans public or released financial details. Montgomery already has the country’s first Hyundai plant, which employs 3,000 people, according to Yonhap News. The current plant produces the Sonata and Elantra sedans.
SUV production for Hyundai is handled by its corporate cousin Kia Motors Corp.’sseparate manufacturing facility in Georgia.
The report said Hyundai is looking to build its own SUVs in an American facility. The combined production capacity of Hyundai Motor Group would reach 9.2 million units per year in 2018.
“We are constantly going over the possibility of building new plants overseas to raise offshore sales and secure a new growth engine for the company, but nothing has been decided yet,” a Hyundai official said to Yonhap.
Hyundai Motor Manufacturing of Alabama spokesman Robert Burns referred questions to American headquarters officials in California.
Jim Trainor, product public relations senior group manager for Hyundai, told the BBJ that nothing is in place regarding a new plant.
“There are no plans at this stage,” he said.