Hyundai will start producing the Kona Electric at its Czech manufacturing plant, Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Czech (HMMC), in March 2020 and the plant plans to produce 30,000 electric vehicles in the first year.

Together with the production from Hyundai's Ulsan plant in Korea, the company says it will more than triple the availability of Kona Electric for its customers in Europe, leading to a significant reduction in waiting time.

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"With the start of production for the Kona Electric at HMMC, Hyundai is further cementing itself as a leading provider of electro-mobility solutions in Europe," said Dong Woo Choi, President and CEO of Hyundai Motor Europe HQ. "By expanding production to Europe to better serve the European market, we see this as an extension of our 'made in Europe for Europe' philosophy. We are also further strengthening Europe as manufacturing location by producing future mobility solutions on site."

Hyundai also says the battery supply will come from Europe. This, it says, guarantees a stable supply with a reduced distance to the plant as well as a fixed amount of batteries needed for the production of Kona Electric.

Alongside the production chain, major changes were applied at the stamping and welding shops at the Czech plant. Here the tools are exchanged several times per day in order to produce the different parts of i30 range, Tucson and now Kona Electric. Each stamping tool needs to be able to be exchanged within five minutes. Since Kona Electric is the first car at HMMC to be offered with a two-tone roof, the paint shop needed to undergo changes in the painting process. Since Kona Electric also runs in the same production line as i30 and Tucson, the finishing line needed to be equipped accordingly, including extra training of the employees, Hyundai says.

Specifically for an electric car, there is a new production stage involving the storage and installation of electric batteries. A new storage building for the batteries has been set up with its separate delivery chain within the plant. Automated robots deliver the battery packs to the newly set up mounting line.

For 2020, Hyundai says it will provide about 80,000 units of zero-emission vehicles to European customers, including Kona Electric, IONIQ Electric and the NEXO fuel cell electric SUV. With this development, Hyundai says it expects to become the biggest provider of zero-emission vehicles in Europe in 2020.