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Kia mulls converting a Chinese plant for electric car production

Kia mulls converting a Chinese plant for electric car production

Posted March. 21, 2019 07:44,   

Updated March. 21, 2019 07:44

한국어

Kia Motors Corp. is considering ways to convert one of its production plants in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province in China into one manufacturing only electric vehicles.

According to industry sources, Dongfeng Yueda Kia Motor Co., Kia’s auto joint venture in China, said on its official Weibo account that its major shareholders agreed to restructure the plant No. 1 in Yancheng. Under the plan, Dongfeng Yueda Kia is considering halting the production of existing Kia models, while Chinese shareholder Yueda Group will convert the plant into an electric vehicle-only plant.

The Yancheng No. 1 plant is Kia’s first production plant in China set up in 2002 jointly with Chinese automaker Dongfeng Motor and Yueda Group. With annual production capacity of a total of 890,000 vehicles at its three Chinese plants, Kia has been mulling halting the plant No. 1 as the automaker’s sales in China declined to 370,000 cars last year.


Hyoun-Soo Kim kimhs@donga.com