Hyundai Motor to build dedicated EV plant in S.Korea

Seoul, July 12

The union of Hyundai Motor said on Tuesday it has tentatively agreed with the company to build a dedicated electric vehicle (EV) plant in South Korea by 2025 amid a global electrification push.

Hyundai and its union reached an agreement on the domestic EV plant in the carmaker's main Ulsan plant, 414 kms southeast of Seoul, a union spokesperson told Yonhap news agency.

The tentative agreement is subject to a vote by unionized workers as early as this month, ahead of the one-week summer holidays, which begin on July 30, he said.

Hyundai and its union are in negotiations over wages for this year and the domestic EV plant, a company spokesperson said.

The planned EV plant is part of Hyundai Motor Group's plans announced in May to invest 63 trillion won ($49.8 billion) in its domestic businesses by 2025.

In May, Hyundai Motor Group also announced it will invest $5.54 billion to build a dedicated EV and car battery manufacturing plant in Georgia, the United States, with an aim to start production in the first half of 2025.

Hyundai has seven domestic plants in Korea and 11 overseas plants -- four in China, and one each in the U.S., the Czech Republic, Turkey, Russia, India, Brazil and Indonesia. Their combined capacity reaches 5.65 million vehicles.