SAVANNAH ― With a tug on a drape, Hyundai on Tuesday unveiled the electric vehicle currently under test production at its assembly facility near Georgia’s coast.
The South Korean automaker debuted the 2025 IONIQ 5 during an event at a Savannah dealership. The EV is one of the first manufactured at Hyundai’s massive, 16-million-square-foot factory located along I-16 in Bryan County, 30 minutes west of downtown Savannah.
The plant is set to begin full production before the end of the year, possibly as soon as Oct. 1. With a $7.6 billion planned investment, it is the largest economic development project in state history.
Hyundai has a staff of 1,471 working on-site and has invested just shy of $3 billion, said a progress and activity report filed July 8 with the Georgia Department of Community Affairs. The filing is tied to a $1.8 billion incentives package struck with state and local officials.
Trip Tollison, who heads the Savannah Harbor-Interstate 16 Corridor Joint Development Authority that partnered with the state to attract Hyundai to Georgia, called Tuesday’s IONIQ 5 unveiling a “milestone achievement” for the project.
“All the work that went into this ... it’s been a crazy ride and a very fast ride,” he said. “This is a very exciting moment in the life of this project.”
Credit: Justin Taylor/The Current GA
Credit: Justin Taylor/The Current GA
The initial manufacturing run of the 2025 Ioniq 5 will be done at the Savannah factory, known as the Hyundai Metaplant. Officials with the automaker highlighted many of the EV’s attributes during Tuesday’s event. Based on the design of the existing model, the 2025 edition will be the first equipped with a charging port that can connect to Tesla’s superchargers without an adapter, doubling the size of Hyundai’s charging network and expanding the number of charging stations by 17,000 nationwide.
All Hyundais manufactured going forward will be made with the Tesla North American Charging Standard port, said Joe LaMuraglia, a Hyundai public relations manager. The Savannah-area factory will produce other models of Hyundais as well as those of its sister brands, Kia and Genesis, once the plant ramps up operations.
“We know that the availability of charging stations is one of the biggest hesitations people have to buying EVs,” he said. “The North American Charging Standard port addresses that concern.”
Several Hyundai Metaplant front-line employees joined officials for Tuesday’s events and talked about the pride they feel in seeing a car they helped produce on display — and how exciting it will be when the EVs are on the road and in neighbors’ driveways.
Rodericko “Chico” Murphy, a quality control specialist at the assembly facility, encouraged local youngsters to take an interest in the factory and the career opportunities it presents.
“Now is the time to get in,” Murphy said. “This company is going to be here and part of this community for a long time.”
Credit: Photo courtesy of Hyundai Motor Company
Credit: Photo courtesy of Hyundai Motor Company
The Hyundai factory is nearing its opening at a time when the automaker is facing challenges at the site. The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers recently announced it would reevaluate the site’s environmental permit to include a review of the water withdrawal plans. The study comes as the Georgia Environmental Protection Division considers issuing permits for the drilling of four wells with access to the Floridan aquifer, which lies deep below ground and provides drinking water for about 10 million people.
In addition, a community activist group in Bulloch County, home of the proposed wells, is mounting a signature petition drive meant to trigger a referendum to block the wells. Bulloch County abuts the county that is home to the Hyundai factory, Bryan County, where restrictions block the drilling of new wells and limit the amount of water that can be pumped from the aquifer within the county’s boundaries.
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