Hyundai Motor Co, South Korea's biggest automaker, said it picked Alabama over Kentucky as the site for its first, US$1 billion US plant, as it plans to increase its market share with locally produced vehicles.
The maker of Santa Fe and Sonata cars chose the Montgomery, Alabama site because of the utilities available, competitive labor rates and harbor facilities, as well as the state government's efforts to attract the automaker, said company President Kim Dong Jin. Construction will start this month and the plant will open in 2005, producing about 300,000 vehicles a year.
When completed, the factory will employ 2,000 workers, and generate 5,000 jobs in related industries, Kim said.
Hyundai Motor, which had also been evaluating a site in Glendale, Kentucky, wants a US plant to help increase its share of the world's biggest auto market. It expects US sales to rise at least 7 percent to 370,000 this year after a 42 percent rise in 2001, a bigger gain than any of its rivals. Hyundai ranks eighth in US sales, after overtaking Mitsubishi Motors Corp and Mazda Motor Corp last year.
"We have once again shown the world that Alabama is simply a great place to do business," Alabama Governor Don Siegelman said. "Hyundai and Alabama have forged a business partnership that will benefit Alabama families for generations to come."
Hyundai Motor shares rose as much as 4.4 percent to 42,700 won in Seoul.
Alabama's legislature last month approved spending as much as US$118.5 million for autoworker training to help persuade Hyundai to locate its plant in the state. Kentucky had offered Hyundai US$123 million in incentives, as well as about US$30 million to improve highway access near the Hardin County site, according to local newspaper reports.
Hyundai joins a growing list of automakers and auto-parts manufacturers that have moved into Alabama in the past decade.
DaimlerChrysler AG's Mercedes-Benz unit, which makes luxury M-class sport-utility vehicles in Tuscaloosa, is expanding the plant it opened in 1997, raising total investment in the state to US$1 billion and eventually employing 4,000 workers.
Honda Motor Co last year opened a light truck plant in Lincoln that will employ 2,800 people when a second phase is completed later this year. The Tokyo-based automaker has valued its investment in the plant at US$580 million.
Toyota Motor Corp is building a US$220 million engine plant in Huntsville, Alabama that is expected to create 350 jobs.
SECURITY: As China is ‘reshaping’ Hong Kong’s population, Taiwan must raise the eligibility threshold for applications from Hong Kongers, Chiu Chui-cheng said When Hong Kong and Macau citizens apply for residency in Taiwan, it would be under a new category that includes a “national security observation period,” Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) Minister Chiu Chui-cheng (邱垂正) said yesterday. President William Lai (賴清德) on March 13 announced 17 strategies to counter China’s aggression toward Taiwan, including incorporating national security considerations into the review process for residency applications from Hong Kong and Macau citizens. The situation in Hong Kong is constantly changing, Chiu said to media yesterday on the sidelines of the Taipei Technology Run hosted by the Taipei Neihu Technology Park Development Association. With
CARROT AND STICK: While unrelenting in its military threats, China attracted nearly 40,000 Taiwanese to over 400 business events last year Nearly 40,000 Taiwanese last year joined industry events in China, such as conferences and trade fairs, supported by the Chinese government, a study showed yesterday, as Beijing ramps up a charm offensive toward Taipei alongside military pressure. China has long taken a carrot-and-stick approach to Taiwan, threatening it with the prospect of military action while reaching out to those it believes are amenable to Beijing’s point of view. Taiwanese security officials are wary of what they see as Beijing’s influence campaigns to sway public opinion after Taipei and Beijing gradually resumed travel links halted by the COVID-19 pandemic, but the scale of
A US Marine Corps regiment equipped with Naval Strike Missiles (NSM) is set to participate in the upcoming Balikatan 25 exercise in the Luzon Strait, marking the system’s first-ever deployment in the Philippines. US and Philippine officials have separately confirmed that the Navy Marine Expeditionary Ship Interdiction System (NMESIS) — the mobile launch platform for the Naval Strike Missile — would take part in the joint exercise. The missiles are being deployed to “a strategic first island chain chokepoint” in the waters between Taiwan proper and the Philippines, US-based Naval News reported. “The Luzon Strait and Bashi Channel represent a critical access
Pope Francis is be laid to rest on Saturday after lying in state for three days in St Peter’s Basilica, where the faithful are expected to flock to pay their respects to history’s first Latin American pontiff. The cardinals met yesterday in the Vatican’s synod hall to chart the next steps before a conclave begins to choose Francis’ successor, as condolences poured in from around the world. According to current norms, the conclave must begin between May 5 and 10. The cardinals set the funeral for Saturday at 10am in St Peter’s Square, to be celebrated by the dean of the College