Three Hyundai suppliers plan to add manufacturing plants in Georgia for a combined investment of nearly $180 million, according to a series of announcements from Gov. Brian Kemp.
Automotive parts manufacturer NVH Korea will invest over $72 million in a new manufacturing facility in Locust Grove, Georgia, according to a June state release.
NVH Korea will produce the EV battery system components that will protect, connect and monitor the battery cells’ performance. The new facility is expected to create 160 jobs and operations are anticipated to begin in Q2 of 2024.
The Locust Grove plant will be the company’s second Georgia facility. The company’s subsidiary, AFS America, has a facility in Columbus that produces floor and carbo mats and cargo trays, according to NVH Korea’s website.
Another South Korea-based company, Daesol Ausys, will establish a $72 million facility in West Point. The new plant will create 140 jobs in production, quality control, maintenance, human resources and management. Production is expected to begin in December 2024.
The company will produce luggage boards and covers and is also a supplier for General Motors and Kia, the latter of which also has a manufacturing facility in West Point. In July, Kia announced it was investing $200 million to expand the plant to produce its new electric SUV model beginning in Q2 of next year.
11 Hyundai suppliers and counting in Georgia
And finally, car seat maker Das Corp. will establish a $35 million plant in Metter, Kemp announced last week.
The new facility will produce automotive seat structures when operations begin in the second half of 2024. The investment will create 300 jobs.
The three factories follow Hyundai to the state after the automaker announced a $5.5 billion manufacturing campus in Ellabell last year, the largest economic development project in Georgia’s history.
“Suppliers for the Hyundai Metaplant resulted in over $2 billion in investment last fiscal year alone, helping Georgia achieve a third straight year of record-breaking economic growth,” Kemp said in a statement last week.
Hyundai has also been investing heavily in itself regarding its upcoming $5.5 billion EV metaplant. In late May, Hyundai and LG Energy Solution struck a joint venture deal to build a $4.3 billion battery cell plant, which will be adjacent to the automaker’s EV campus.
But at the beginning of September, the two companies announced it was investing $2 billion more toward the upcoming plant.
The two South Korea-based companies will each take a 50% stake in the venture and facility, where Hyundai will assemble battery packs using cells from the plant to be sent to its U.S. manufacturing sites. The total $6.3 billion investment will create 8,500 jobs, a state official told Manufacturing Dive in an email.
