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.
A Chinese freighter that allegedly snapped an undersea cable linking Taiwan proper to Penghu County is suspected of being owned by a Chinese state-run company and had docked at the ports of Kaohsiung and Keelung for three months using different names. On Tuesday last week, the Togo-flagged freighter Hong Tai 58 (宏泰58號) and its Chinese crew were detained after the Taipei-Penghu No. 3 submarine cable was severed. When the Coast Guard Administration (CGA) first attempted to detain the ship on grounds of possible sabotage, its crew said the ship’s name was Hong Tai 168, although the Automatic Identification System (AIS)
An Akizuki-class destroyer last month made the first-ever solo transit of a Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force ship through the Taiwan Strait, Japanese government officials with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. The JS Akizuki carried out a north-to-south transit through the Taiwan Strait on Feb. 5 as it sailed to the South China Sea to participate in a joint exercise with US, Australian and Philippine forces that day. The Japanese destroyer JS Sazanami in September last year made the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s first-ever transit through the Taiwan Strait, but it was joined by vessels from New Zealand and Australia,
SECURITY: The purpose for giving Hong Kong and Macau residents more lenient paths to permanent residency no longer applies due to China’s policies, a source said The government is considering removing an optional path to citizenship for residents from Hong Kong and Macau, and lengthening the terms for permanent residence eligibility, a source said yesterday. In a bid to prevent the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) from infiltrating Taiwan through immigration from Hong Kong and Macau, the government could amend immigration laws for residents of the territories who currently receive preferential treatment, an official familiar with the matter speaking on condition of anonymity said. The move was part of “national security-related legislative reform,” they added. Under the amendments, arrivals from the Chinese territories would have to reside in Taiwan for
CRITICAL MOVE: TSMC’s plan to invest another US$100 billion in US chipmaking would boost Taiwan’s competitive edge in the global market, the premier said The government would ensure that the most advanced chipmaking technology stays in Taiwan while assisting Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) in investing overseas, the Presidential Office said yesterday. The statement follows a joint announcement by the world’s largest contract chipmaker and US President Donald Trump on Monday that TSMC would invest an additional US$100 billion over the next four years to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations in the US, which would include construction of three new chip fabrication plants, two advanced packaging facilities, and a research and development center. The government knew about the deal in advance and would assist, Presidential
RSS