Kia to hire 200 at its West Point, Georgia, plant to start building electric SUVs

FILE – An electric battery-powered Kia EV9 sport utility is shown at the New York International Auto Show, April 6, 2023, in New York. (AP Photo/Ted Shaffrey, File)

Kia has announced a major expansion at its plant just across the Alabama/Georgia state line  in West Point, Georgia.

Kia says it will invest $200 million in its factory to begin producing an electric-powered SUV. It said it would hire an additional 200 workers to begin producing its large EV9 vehicle by early 2024.

The company said it would expand overall production at the plant. Kia says the plant currently produces 340,000 vehicles a year, including Telluride, Sorrento and Sportage SUVs and K5 sedans.

Kia has 3,000 employees at the plant. Spokesperson Patrick Sands said the EV9 would be built on the same assembly line as the other vehicles, and Kia was investing to assemble electric powertrains.

Hyundai Motor Group, Kia’s parent, is pushing hard into electric vehicles. Hyundai is completing a $5.5 billion plant to assemble electric vehicles and batteries in Ellabell, Georgia, near Savannah. The company also invested $300 million in its Montgomery plant to begin making electric vehicles, starting with the Genesis Electrified GV70 SUV. Hyundai also 200 hired additional workers in Montgomery.

Kia leaders said they hoped the EV9, with three rows of seats, would do for company sales what the large Telluride did for the brand once it began rolling off the assembly line in West Point in 2019. Kia began delivering EV9s to customers in South Korea last month.

“Like Telluride, EV9 has the potential to be another change catalyst for Kia,” Sean Yoon, President and CEO of Kia Motors America, said in a statement. “This will be the most innovative vehicle that we have ever built and will be a standout in the EV market and on the road.”

Georgia will pay to train workers for the Kia expansion. The company says on its website that production workers start with a salary of $38,000 a year, with pay raises and extra pay for working evening shifts.

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