According to the AP, Korea’s Yonhap news agency reported last week that work could be delayed at Kia’s new West Point, Georgia factory. A wait and see approach would make a lot of sense too, considering that Kia is cutting production worldwide and that the bottom appears to be falling out of the American car market (Hyundai sales being no exception). Except that the report was not true. “No change has been made to our schedule to complete the plant by the end of November and to start production in December (2009)”, says Kia’s Michael Choo. The $1.2b plant was announced in 2006, and will employ 2,500 workers building 300k vehicles annually at full capacity. The West Point factory is Kia’s first in the US, joining parent company Hyundai’s single factory in Alabama. This makes the Georgia Kia’s third overseas production center, joining China and Slovakia, the latter of which is the subject of a fascinating piece by the International Herald Tribune. In it the secretary general of the Automotive Industry Association of Slovakia brushes aside those who would call her country (which builds more cars per capita than any other) “the Detroit of Europe.” “We’re in a good position to grow,” Maria Novakova tells the IHT. “Frankly, we don’t want to be compared to Detroit because we don’t want to end up like Detroit.” An understandable sentiment, to be sure, and one that is poignantly underlined by Kia’s decision to build cars in the US.
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This is good basic strategy. If any country of origin has a target on it’s back it’s Korea.
Kia, and parent company Hyundai,
Thank you for investing in the local economy of West Point, GA. Thank you for investing in America. Thank you for investing and believing in the American work force.
Thank you for your long-term focus and belief in America.
You see, Hyundai/Kia, the local “home” team does not endorse such beliefs. No, it’s all about GREED.
Greed is their downfall…GM, Ford, and Chrysler…every last one of them. From “Management” on down.
Please don’t make the same mistakes as GM, Ford, and Chrysler…with easy money based upon junk pickups and SUVs. Please adhere to Research and Development for a better and brighter future.
As long as you are moving forward, and not “selling out”, you will do just FINE.
Keep up the good work!!!
Thank you for investing in the local economy of West Point, GA. Thank you for investing in America. Thank you for investing and believing in the American work force
Thank you for locating your Technical Center near Ann Arbor. It is good to know that the R/D and brainpower will remain strong in Michigan.
A good move. The worst of the recession will be over in 2-3 years when the plant is going full steam. The cheap and cheerful cars Kia offers fit with the new frugal zeitgeist.
If GM & Chrysler die or even if they are able to successfully reorganize themselves via Ch11 there is still a good 15-20% of the market in play.
If people could only remember the depths from which KIA (killed in action)has climbled out of in the last 10 years. Kia in America said: small, cheap, unreliable, non-stylish, and not long for the American market. When these things were said to GM about the corvair and vega, they quit, ibid for the Ford pinto. Kia which was combined with Huyndai, buckled down and made a full range of reliable desirable cars in 10 short years. They have risen from way behind the Detroit three to up with many of the Japanese brands. The difference between Kia and the American mfgs. was tenacity and the patience to fix things a little at a time. Remember this was back ten years ago when many of their cars sold for less than 10K and were all imported. Yes, with their second plant set to open next year (Huyndai is already here), the Koreans are set to scavange up more business from both the Americans and Japanese. Do the American mfgs. have 10 or even 5 years to get their act together?
Georgia: The Just as Good as Slovakia State
There is two good reasons I can think of off the top of my head as to why Kia would do this.
1. The US economy should start to pull out of the recession before the plant is completed.
2. Korean auto unions are *FAR* more aggressive and strike-prone compared to the US non-union workforce. The more autos Kia can make here = less clout the Korean auto-unions have in their demands. (Korean unions tend to strike on a yearly basis. So much so… that colloquially, South Koreans refer to it as the ‘strike season’.)
I recall when one of the Korean mfg’s (either Kia or Huyndai, I think) had their quality problems, the CEO told his engineers simply: “We are going to warrant our cars for 100 K miles. Figure out how to make cars that meet this warranty”. The Japanese did it, the Koreans did it, and I have no doubt that the Chinese will get to that point a lot faster than people believe.
Just slightly off topic but Toyota opened it’s new Woodstock, Ontario plant today.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2008/12/04/7629541-cp.html
I say, good move Kia! If they are working by Kia standards, why not?!