Kia to build PBV plant in Hwaseong after union approval

EV6 production line in Kia’s Hwaseong plant [Source : HMG]

South Korea’s Kia Corp. will kick off construction of its first manufacturing facility dedicated to electric purpose-built vehicles (PBVs) in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, before March after the union accepted the plan last week.

According to multiple sources from the automobile industry on Monday, the management and labor union of the second-largest carmaker in Korea agreed in a meeting last week to build the facility.

Electric-based PBVs are gaining traction as a future means of transportation as integrating them with autonomous driving technology leads to utilization in wider areas such as robot taxis, unmanned freight transportation, and moveable office.

Hyundai Motor Group (HMG), the owner of Kia, announced plans to build a manufacturing facility dedicated to electric PBVs in May last year as it unveiled automation goal in May last year.

Kia management and labor union agreed on producing over 200,000 PBVs at the new factory in the mid to long term. The plant will have a capacity to build 100,000 units in the first phase of production from July 2025. The second phase will involve adding more vehicles and models for production with a target of more than 200,000 units.

Kia has set the goal of becoming the world’s top PBV brand by 2030. The PBV factory in Hwaseong will apply innovative manufacturing technology and minimize carbon emissions.

Kia has been putting out efforts to expand its presence in the electric vehicle (EV) realm. It plans to release two or more EV models every year, including the large-size EV sport utility vehicle (SUV) EV9 this year. It plans to establish an EV line-up of 14 models by 2027, which will include EV compact trucks.

HMG is aiming to produce 1.44 million EVs in 2030 from 350,000 units last year. Hyundai Motor and Kia plans to invest 21 trillion won ($17 billion) in Korean EV market by 2030.

Kia is currently engaged in transforming one of the two factories in Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi Province, into an EV-exclusive plant. Its plant in Gwangju will also start producing EV SUVs from 2025. Hyundai Motor is also building an EV-exclusive factory in Ulsan by 2025, which will be the first facility in Korea in 29 years.