Hyundai Begins Production at New $7.6 Billion EV Plant in Georgia

Hyundai’s new EV plant outside Savannah, Georgia is up and running, months ahead of its original schedule. But the automaker now says the $7.6 billion complex will build hybrids, as well as all-electric models due to slowing growth in the EV sector.

Now the second-bestselling producer of battery-electric vehicles in the U.S., Hyundai will get a significant boost with the opening of its new Georgia EV plant.

Eventually, the Hyundai Motor Group plans to assemble six different EVs in Georgia, with those products set to be sold through the Hyundai, Kia and Genesis brands.

At launch, the facility will have the capacity to produce as many as 300,000 electric vehicles annually — along with the batteries they’ll require — though officials announced in April the $7.59 billion facility also will produce some hybrid products, as well.

Hyundai defies EV slowdown

After growing more than eightfold between 2019 and 2023, sales of battery-electric vehicles have settled back sharply this year — though they’re still expected to increase around 10% for the full year, according to J.D. Power, Kelley Blue Book and other tracking firms.

The Hyundai Motor Group, which includes the Hyundai, Kia and Genesis brands, has exceeded the overall industry pace, surging 60% for the first half of the year. The Hyundai marque itself is running at roughly double the industry pace, the Ioniq 5 model — its bestselling EV — gaining 20% through the end of the third quarter compared to the first nine months of 2023.

The South Korean automaker is now the second-bestselling manufacturer in the U.S. EV market, behind only Tesla.

The Metaplant

At a cost of $7.59 billion, the Hyundai Metaplant goes into operation just two years after the automaker broke ground in Bryan County, near Savannah.

The facility includes an assembly line customized for battery-electric vehicles, as well as a battery factory set up as a joint venture between Hyundai and Korea’s LG Energy Solution. Initially, batteries will be imported, as that portion of the complex is not scheduled to go into operation until late 2025.

The plant was designed with a launch capacity of 300,000 vehicles but can be expanded to 500,000 if demand is there. The Hyundai Ioniq 5 will be among the first products to be assembled in Georgia. Eventually, the facility is tooled to assemble as many as six different all-electric models.

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A change in plans

Despite Hyundai’s strong position in the EV market, however, it now expects demand to grow slower than originally projected when the Metaplant was designed. As a result, Hyundai Motor chief financial officer Lee Seung Jo revealed during an April earnings call that it will revise its investment “to produce hybrid cars at the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America.”

Hyundai isn’t the only automaker revising its plans to reflect slower growth in the U.S. EV market. General Motors now plans to add several plug-in hybrids, delaying its bid to become an all-electric manufacturer. Ford has scrapped several EV programs to focus on new entry models. It’s also delayed the opening of its Blue Oval City, massive EV manufacturing complex going in near Memphis. Toyota is among the other manufacturers delaying or shifting EV rollout plans.

Despite adding hybrids into the mix, however, Hyundai is confident the addition of the Metplant will help it continue boosting demand for its EVs. At launch, customers who purchase the Ioniq 5 models produced in Georgia will now qualify for up to $3,750 in federal tax credits. It doesn’t get the full package because batteries for the Ioniq 5 built at that plant will, for now, be imported from Hungary.

More battery production

Adding U.S.-made batteries could eventually boost that to the full $7,500 in credits under revised federal rules. Customers who lease the EV already qualify for the full $7,500 in incentives.

Along with the battery operation at the Metaplant, Hyundai is partnering with Korea’s SK ON to build another facility in Bartow County, Georgia. Set to open late next year it will supply both the Hyundai assembly plant in Montgomery, Alabama and a Kia plant in West Point, Georgia.