Hyundai Motor has completed the expansion of its car assembly plant in Turkey, increasing the company’s production capacity in Europe to 500,000 units a year.
Built in 1997, Hyundai Assan Otomotive Sanayi (HAOS) in Ízmit, Turkey, is Hyundai’s longest-operating factory outside Korea [a stamping and assembly plant in Bromont, Quebec, Canada opened in 1989 lasted just four years – ed].
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Originally capable of producing 60,000 a year, the plant added a second shift in 2007 which hiked output to 125,000. The latest capital spend will increase capacity to 200,000 by 2014. The upgrade will allow the facility to build the forthcoming redesigned i10 in addition to the i20.
Hyundai said the success of HAOS, on over EUR1bn has been spent so far, led to the decision to built the second European factory, Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Czech, in Nošovice, Czech Republic.
The factory built 114,000 vehicles in its first year. Production has since steadily increased and the factory now works around the clock at full capacity, producing 300,000 vehicles a year.
Today, 95% of all Hyundai vehicles sold in Europe are designed and developed locally. The latest spending on Hyundai’s Turkish facility means that, by the end of the year, 90% of vehicles sold in Europe will also have been built in the region.
Hyundai Motor Europe COO Allan Rushforth said: “The expansion of the plant in Turkey and our manufacturing capacity in the region demonstrates Hyundai’s increasing commitment to Europe. Our European factories will allow us to build the right cars for the region and to continue supporting communities and suppliers throughout Europe.”
The expansion in lzmitc created a further 2,804 jobs at HAOS and at its suppliers, HME said.
The automaker also has a further 150,000 units of annual production capacity at its plant in St Petersburg, Russia, supplying both the domestic market and eastern Europe.
Worldwide, Hyundai also has a large plant in Alabama, US and a manufacturing joint venture with Beijing Auto in China, Beijing Hyundai.
Affiliate Kia also has a Chinese joint venture, a US plant in Georgia and a European factory in Slovakia. In the past the Czech and Slovak plants have built models for both group brands but these are now separate. But each supplies the other with engines and gearboxes respectively.
Hyundai is also reportedly considering building another plant in Canada. The former Bromont plant building still stands but was sold decades ago.
