Hyundai Still Dropping $2.7B on Georgia Plant Raided by ICE

Hyundai Motor Group on Thursday confirmed it is going forward with previously announced plans to expand its Georgia plant, just weeks after an immigration raid delayed the startup of an electric vehicle battery plant at the site. As part of a broader investment strategy, Hyundai said it would spend $2.7 billion to increase production capacity at the Ellabell site by 200,000 over the next three years, to a total of 500,000 vehicles a year. The company first announced the expansion in March at the grand opening of the plant west of Savannah, and had said in August that it would invest an additional $5 billion in United States overall. But the AP reports that the raid, which included arrests of more than 300 South Korean citizens, led to questions about the wisdom of the Asian nation investing in the US.

Hyundai CEO José Muñoz has said the immigration raid will delay opening the battery plant by at least two to three months, pushing it to the first half of 2026. Both Hyundai executives and Georgia officials have been trying to calm the situation since the raid, which mushroomed into a diplomatic dispute between South Korea and the United States. Gov. Brian Kemp told reporters Tuesday that the raid may even wind up smoothing the way for South Korean employees to more easily obtain legal permission to help build and operate facilities in the US. "I've had good conversations with companies that are here doing business in Georgia, companies that are looking to do business here," Kemp said. "And I've had good conversations with people in the White House about the visa issue."

Hyundai now plans to produce 10 models of electric and hybrid gas-electric vehicles in Georgia, up from the current two. The automaker pledged that 60% of those vehicles will be electric or hybrid powered, targeting sales in South Korea, North America, and Europe. Hyundai said that it plans to make more than 80% of vehicles sold in the United States domestically by 2030, with total domestic content increasing from 60% to 80%. For the first time, the vehicles would include a mid-sized pickup truck, a key vehicle class in the US market. The company already makes the Santa Cruz model, a four-door compact pickup, that it started selling in 2021.