Kia is staying on schedule with plans to start production in its key US export market.
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On Thursday it confirmed it would begin output at its first US factory in Georgia on schedule from next December.
“Construction of the Georgia plant is proceeding as scheduled. We will begin mass production from December as announced,” Kia CFO Jason Lee told Reuters, adding that the plant would produce two or three models.
Parent Hyundai Motor began pilot production in late 2003 at a new factory in Alabama. Originally slated to build the redesigned Sonata sedan, it later added the Santa Fe SUV. Production was recently halted temporarily as US sales slumped.
Kia also has a factory in Slovakia, making the Ceed C-segment model line and the Sportage SUV. Hyundai recently opened a plant in the neighbouring Czech Republic which builds the i30 on the same platform as the Ceed, plus gearboxes for both model lines.
