Hyundai's $7.6 billion EV Metaplant near Savannah, Ga., is nearing completion, aiming to produce 300,000 vehicles per year and create thousands of jobs. The facility, designed for flexibility, will manufacture various Hyundai, Kia, and Genesis models. Construction began in 2022 and is set to finish this fall.
Rendering courtesy of Hyundai
Company officials broke ground on the 16 million sq. ft. facility in October 2022 and are already on pace to begin rolling finished vehicles off the assembly line by this fall, roughly the two-year anniversary of the project’s start.
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 (EV) assembly factory under construction near Savannah, Ga., the H logo might as well feature racing stripes.
Company officials broke ground on the 16 million sq. ft. facility in October 2022 and are already on pace to begin rolling finished vehicles off the assembly line by this fall, roughly the two-year anniversary of the project's start.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported July 22 that test production is already under way in the main plant as crews finish construction. Additionally, Hyundai has hired and is training its initial shift of assembly workers.
With a stated goal of introducing 17 new electric vehicle models and manufacturing 1.44 million battery-powered cars annually by 2030, Hyundai's sense of urgency in opening what it calls the "Metaplant" reflects the automaker's view of "the future of mobility," officials said.
Or, as Carter Infinger, an elected leader in Bryan County, Ga., where the plant is being built, said, "Our friends from Korea only know one speed: Full throttle."
Automaker Wasted No Time in Starting Factory's Construction
Hyundai is investing $7.6 billion at the 2,906-acre site with plans to produce up to 300,000 vehicles per year at the assembly facility. An EV battery manufacturing plant and a worker training center also are under construction on the site and are scheduled to open in 2025. Altogether, the project is the largest in Georgia economic development history.
The property sits along Interstate 16 behind a truck weigh station near the small town of Ellabell, about 25 mi. 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 sometime in 2027.
Formerly known as the Bryan County Megasite, the Hyundai property was first prepared for development a decade ago when Volvo was considering opening a factory in the Savannah area. The Journal-Constitution noted that state officials expanded the size of the site in 2021 after selling part of another nearby industrial parcel to Amazon.
Hyundai inquired about the property in January 2022 and within five months announced plans to build the factory in southeast Georgia. Site preparation began that August and vertical construction started in early 2023.
Hyundai to Begin With Building IONIQ 5 Model
The Metaplant will launch operations with Hyundai's best-selling IONIQ 5 EV model.
The assembly facility is designed for flexibility, which will move vehicles through the factory on a conveyor belt, the automaker has said. In addition, automated guided vehicles will deliver parts and perform tasks alongside workers, whom Hyundai calls "metapros." The company's approach is meant to allow for the production of more than one vehicle model on the same assembly line.
Officials for the company have said the plant will eventually manufacture vehicles for all three of its brands: Hyundai, Kia and Genesis. Hyundai already operates two other factories in the region, producing Hyundais in Montgomery, Ala., and Kias in West Point, Ga. The latter facility recently began production of the Kia EV9 automobile.
Hyundai is building a second battery factory near Cartersville, Ga., as well.
The metro Savannah facility could produce hybrid and plug-in hybrid cars in addition to EVs, according to the Atlanta news source.
The Bryan County onsite battery manufacturing facility also is meant to shorten the supply chain.
As part of the $1.8 billion incentives package that Hyundai signed with state and local officials, the manufacturer agreed to employ 8,500 workers at the Savannah factory, while its battery plant near Cartersville will hire 3,500 more people.
The automaker began hiring within months of announcing the project. It had reached 500 production workers as of February and is now above 850 total employees, the Journal-Constitution noted.
More than 80 percent of the initial hires — and 96 percent of production line employees — live within 60 mi. of the factory site despite a historically low unemployment rate of 3 percent for the greater Savannah area, according to the Georgia Department of Labor.
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.
The South Korean automaker is training its workers through Georgia Quick Start, a state program specializing in advanced manufacturing, in addition to 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.
Metaplant to Utilize Long List of Georgia Parts 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.
Hyundai has kept to its rapid construction pace on the Savannah area factory even as EV sales have underperformed expectations, partly due to federal electric vehicle incentive restrictions. Only EVs manufactured in the United States qualify for the $7,500 purchase rebate incentive, although there is a loophole for leased vehicles. The IONIQ 5s to be manufactured in Georgia will be eligible for the rebates 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 (GPA) 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. Instead, GPA is handling imports of parts and materials for the Hyundai plant through its Savannah terminals
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