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The top brass from Hyundai Motor Group visited the company’s new factory near Savannah for a grand opening celebration Wednesday, just after announcing $9 billion in new U.S. automotive manufacturing capacity as potentially damaging tariffs loomed.
The South Korean company this week officially opened its new Metaplant in Bryan County, a week before President Trump planned to slap all imported vehicles and auto parts with a 25 percent tariff.
Production of electric vehicles at the Hyundai plant began on Oct. 3, when the first IONIQ 5 electric vehicle rolled off the assembly line, built at an accelerated clip as the after the Inflation Reduction Act went into force in 2022, further incentivizing local production
Now, moving fast potentially has a new imperative: Producing in the U.S. to avoid unprecedented levies the Trump administration is imposing in a bid to expand automotive manufacturing in the U.S.
Nearly half of all vehicles sold in the United States are imported, and that proportion is even higher for Hyundai and Kia, which imported about 1 million out of the 1.7 million vehicles the sister brands sold in the U.S. last year.
Larger, more profitable models like the Kia Telluride and Sorento, and the Hyundai Palisade and Tucson, are made in the United States. The IONIQ 9 all-electric SUV will be the next model made in Bryan County, followed by a new Kia model in 2026.
In an announcement at the White House Monday, Executive Chairman Euisun Chung said Hyundai Motor Group would invest another $21 billion in the United States, creating 14,000 jobs in the U.S. through 2028. Along with a new steel plant in Louisiana and logistics infrastructure ($5.8 billion) and technology and energy projects including charging stations, hydrogen and small modular reactors ($6 billion), the figure includes a new $9 billion to boost production to some 1.2 million cars annually across three plants in Georgia and Alabama.
Both Kia’s West Point facility and Hyundai’s Montgomery, Ala., plant produce about 300,000 units per year. The Savannah Metaplant, officials announced at the opening, will boost production to 500,000 vehicles a year, a 66 percent increase from its planned 300,000. The company has not released as of yet how it plans to allocate the new $9 billion in spending.
“Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America not only represents the Group’s advanced manufacturing capabilities and commitment to innovation, but also our investment in relationships with our partners and communities right here in Georgia,” Mr. Chung said during the grand opening.
The group said in a news release that it had already spent $12.6 billion in Georgia, including battery plants on the Bryan County site with LG Energy Solution and another in Bartow County with SK On, both of which are still under construction.
Already the largest economic development project in the state’s history, the Meta plant accounts for some $7.6 billion in investment, including the battery facility. Combined, the site was set to create 8,500 jobs; now, that figure looks to grow further.
Citing the Center for Automotive Research, Hyundai said its investments across the state will create 40,000 direct and indirect jobs, as well as $4.6 billion in wages per year.
Nearby suppliers, the company says, have already created 6,900-plus jobs on $2.5 billion in investment across 12 counties, more than doubling the planned investment total.
The news was met with optimism by state leaders including Rep. Buddy Carter (R-01) and Gov. Brian Kemp, who called the project a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” for Georgia workers (Hyundai calls them Metapros).
The governor attended the event along with top Hyundai and Kia execs, university presidents from Georgia Tech, Savannah State University, Georgia Southern University, and Savannah Technical College, and South Korea’s ambassador to the United States, Cho Hyun-dong, according to the Savannah Morning News, which published an in-depth play-by-play of the factory tour offered to media.
Hyundai may be able to blunt some of the impact of Mr. Trump’s tariffs by increasing the proportion of its vehicles made domestically, but analysts have reportedly predicted that the levies could dent the global auto maker’s margins substantially by dramatically raising costs.
The company has localized many of its critical supply chain elements, from transmissions and instrument panels to seats and more, but trade numbers indicate that Korean auto makers have still relied heavily on imported parts, at least during the plant’s ramp-up.
Korea in 2024 became the state’s third largest source of imports at $16.6 billion, largely on the back of the trade in cars and parts, which accounted for about half that ($6 billion in motor vehicles and another $2 billion in parts.)
Georgia imported more than $15 billion in cars last year, led by Korea and Germany, the home of Mercedes-Benz, Volkswagen and BMW, all of which have factories in the Southeast U.S. but still import many models. Porsche, which has its North America headquarters near the Atlanta airport, only makes cars in Germany, leaving it vulnerable to the promised tariffs.
While the Trump administration is focused on the job-creation potential of domestic factories, the Georgia Ports Authority has said that imports also serve the state’s economy by creating employment in the logistics and transport sector.
About half of the port’s container volumes are inbound, meaning that imports account for about that same proportion of the 609,197 estimated jobs supported by port activity throughout the state. About one in every eight jobs statewide is supported by the port, according to a new analysis from the University of Georgia.
The Port of Brunswick claimed the top slot for seaborne car imports in the U.S. in 2024, bringing in more than 901,000 units of autos and heavy machinery.
The Metaplant grand opening took place a about week after Hyundai confirmed an accident in which a worker was fatally struck by a forklift at the joint venture battery factory on the Metaplant footprint.
It was the second worker death on the site since construction began in January; along the way, local news outlets have described a growing tally of workplace injuries as the auto maker raced to build the plant at breakneck speed.
See Hyundai’s video of the grand opening below:
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