The Hyundai brand logo, a stylized H slanting to the right, is meant to symbolize forward motion.
When it comes to the South Korean automaker’s electric vehicle assembly factory under construction near Savannah, the H logo might as well feature racing stripes. Officials broke ground on the 16 million square foot facility in October 2022 and are on pace to begin rolling finished vehicles off the assembly line by this fall, roughly the two-year anniversary of the project’s start.
Test production is already underway in the main plant as crews finish construction. Hyundai has hired and is training its initial shift of assembly workers. With a stated goal of introducing 17 new EV models and manufacturing 1.44 million battery-powered cars annually by 2030, Hyundai’s sense of urgency in opening the Georgia plant reflects the automakers’ view of “the future of mobility,” officials said.
Or as Carter Infinger, an elected leader in Bryan County where the plant is being built, said, “Our friends from Korea only know one speed: Full throttle.”
Here’s what you need to know about the manufacturing facility, which Hyundai calls the Metaplant.
Credit: Photo courtesy of HMGNA
Credit: Photo courtesy of HMGNA
What’s the 411 on the assembly plant?
Hyundai is investing $7.6 billion on a 2,906-acre site. The assembly facility is designed to produce up to 300,000 vehicles per year. An EV battery manufacturing plant and a worker training center are also under construction on the site and are scheduled to open in 2025. All together, the project is the largest in Georgia economic development history.
The property sits along I-16 behind a truck weigh station near the small town of Ellabell, about 25 miles west of downtown Savannah. A highway interchange is located just west of the site and another exit is planned immediately to the east of the plant, with a projected opening date in 2027.
Formerly known as the Bryan County Megasite, the Hyundai property was first readied for development a decade ago when Volvo was considering opening a factory in the Savannah area. The state of Georgia expanded the size of the site in 2021 after selling part of another industrial parcel located closer to Savannah to Amazon.
Hyundai inquired about the property in January 2022 and within five months announced plans to build the factory in Georgia. Site preparation began that August and vertical construction started in early 2023.
What cars will Hyundai make in Georgia?
The plant will launch with the Ioniq 5, Hyundai’s best-selling EV model. The assembly facility is designed for flexibility, with vehicles moving through the factory on a conveyor belt and automated guided vehicles delivering parts and performing tasks alongside workers, whom Hyundai calls metapros. This approach is meant to allow for the production of more than one vehicle model on the same assembly line.
Officials for the automaker have said the plant will manufacture vehicles for all three of its brands: Hyundai, Kia and Genesis. Hyundai already operates two factories in the region, producing Hyundais in Montgomery, Ala., and Kias in West Point. The Kia plant recently began production of an EV, the Kia EV9.
The Savannah facility could produce hybrid and plug-in hybrid cars in addition to EVs. In March, Hyundai’s North American CEO, José Muñoz, said sales of hybrids were surging as consumers have shied away from EVs due to concerns about range and charging infrastructure. At the same time, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency revised emissions rules that also favor plug-in hybrids rather than just incentivizing EVs.
The onsite battery manufacturing facility is meant to shorten the supply chain. Hyundai is building a second battery factory near Cartersville.
What about the workforce?
Hyundai agreed to employ 8,500 workers at the Savannah factory as part of a $1.8 billion incentives package struck with state and local officials. The battery plant near Cartersville will hire 3,500 more.
The automaker began hiring within months of announcing the project. They’d reached 500 production workers as of February and are now above 850 total employees. More than 80% of the initial hires — and 96% of production line employees — live within 60 miles of the factory site despite a historically low unemployment rate of 3% for the Savannah metro area as reported by the Georgia Department of Labor.
Credit: Bloomberg
Credit: Bloomberg
A study commissioned by Savannah Economic Development Authority, or SEDA, projects the local metro area will need to add 24,000 people to its workforce by 2030. The region’s labor pool grew by 8,000 workers between June 2023 and May 2024, a 4% increase that is well above historical averages of 2.3% to 2.4%. The Savannah Economic Development Authority, or SEDA, created a regional workforce coalition, named RISE, in December to address local labor market issues.
Hyundai recently paused recruitment of assembly workers but continues to seek engineers and other professionals. The automaker will resume hiring production personnel once it expands manufacturing beyond one shift.
Hyundai is training workers through Georgia Quick Start, a state program specializing in advanced manufacturing, as well as through coastal Georgia technical colleges such as Savannah Tech and Ogeechee Tech in Statesboro. Quick Start operates a training center in the Savannah suburb of Pooler and has leased additional space to handle Hyundai hires.
What about suppliers?
Hyundai’s supplier network will touch many parts of southeast Georgia as well as other areas of the state, including metro Atlanta. Currently, 17 suppliers manufacturing everything from seats to climate control parts have been announced, with 11 of those located near the metaplant.
Together, those firms are projected to employ about 7,000 workers and invest $2.7 billion in new facilities.
Credit: © Karine Aigner
Credit: © Karine Aigner
What else is there to know?
Hyundai has kept to its rapid construction pace on the Savannah factory even as EV sales have underperformed to expectations in part because of restrictions to federal EV incentives. Only EVs manufactured in the United States qualify for the $7,500 purchase rebate, although there is a loophole for leased vehicles. The IONIQ 5s to be manufactured in Georgia will be eligible for the incentives once the battery factory is up and running next year.
As a result, the Georgia-made Hyundais are meant for domestic sale and not for export. This means the Georgia Ports Authority’s auto terminal in Brunswick, the second-busiest in the country, is not expecting to see a Hyundai-related increase in business once the factory comes online. GPA is handling imports of parts and materials for the Hyundai plant through its Savannah terminals.
Hyundai and local economic development officials continue to address environmental challenges posed by developing such a large facility in a rural area. A conversation group, the Ogeechee Riverkeeper, recently threatened a lawsuit over permits issued by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
And residents in rural Bulloch County, who live a few miles west of the site, are challenging plans to drill wells in order to serve the long-term water needs of the factory and other future commercial and residential development in the area. A group known as the Bulloch Action Coalition is seeking 4,500 signatures from registered Bulloch County voters to force referendums meant to block the drilling.
The manufacturing facility’s construction also displaced residents: gopher tortoises. More than 100 of the reptiles have been relocated to Fort Stewart, a sprawling U.S. Army base located 30 miles south of the plant.
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