Hyundai Motor’s plant in Ulsan, the world’s largest single plant and the birthplace of the Korean automobile industry, will be transformed into an “EV hub.”
In 1968, the plant started with the late founder Chung Ju-yung’s dream of exporting Korean-made cars to the global market. Hyundai Motor Group Chung Ui-sun is now aiming to make it a centennial company.
Hyundai Motor held a groundbreaking ceremony for the new plant on Nov. 13. Among those on hand at the event were Hyundai Motor Group Chmn. Chung, Hyundai Motor President Chang Jae-hoon, Senior Executive Vice President Lee Dong-seok in charge of domestic production at Hyundai Motor, Ulsan Mayor Kim Doo-gyeom, 1st Vice Minister Jang Young-jin of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Rep. Lee Chae-ik, Rep. Lee Sang-hyeon, and Rep. Park Sung-min.
The EV plant will be built as a “human-oriented plant,” armed with Hyundai Motor’s innovative manufacturing platform and optimal working conditions, to be Hyundai Motor’s production hub in the electrification era.
Chairman Chung said, “The EV plant in Ulsan is another beginning of the future 50-year electrification era, and I have the privilege of sharing my dream for a 100-year company.”
“As the past’s dream of producing best cars has made Ulsan of today an auto industry city, Hyundai Motor, starting with an exclusive EV plant, will join forces to make Ulsan an innovative mobility city that will lead an electrification era.”
Hyundai Motor’s EV plant in Ulsan is the automaker’s first new plant to be built in Korea in 29 years.
Hyundai Motor will invest 2 trillion won in the new plant, which will be capable of producing 200,000 EV units annually. Construction will begin in the fourth quarter of the year at the former integrated proving ground covering 648,000 sq. meters with dedication slated for 2025.
The new plant will mass produce EVs in the first quarter of 2026.
Hyundai Motor’s luxury brand Genesis large-sized SUVs will be the first EVs to be produced from the EV plant in Ulsan.
A Hyundai Motor official said, “Hyundai Motor will pursue innovation for human beings in the electrification era based on human-oriented humanism by inheriting brand heritage, auto industry knowhow and technology capabilities the automaker has accumulated for 56 years.”
The history of the Ulsan plant, the world’s largest single plant and Hyundai Motor’s auto production center, goes back half-a-century.
Founder Chung had a firm belief that the auto industry would be a cornerstone of the national economy and national industrialization, enough for automobiles to be described as the running national flag.
The background of the construction of the Ulsan plant was Hyundai Motor’s challenge for realizing the dream of a better life and transportation.
In 1975, Hyundai Motor mass produced its first homegrown model “Pony,” and honorary chairman Chung Mong-koo’s quality management has catapulted a global brand.
Hyundai Motor said the EV plant in Ulsan will be built on a human-oriented plant concept.
The EV plant will be operated as a futuristic factory considering workers’ safety, convenience and efficient work by employing innovative platforms that were developed and verified by Hyundai Motor Group Innovation Center in Singapore (HMGICS).
HMGICS’ platform includes demand-oriented AI-based intelligent control system, an eco-friendly, low-carbon method designed to realize RE100, and human-friendly facilities enabling safety and efficient work.
Hyundai Motor plans to have the new EV plant outfitted with innovative technologies, such as robotics, a smart logistics system and AI.
Hyundai Motor President Chang said, “Hyundai Motor’s Ulsan plant has been developed over half a century with technicians at the production lines having learned, produced and challenged new things, and Hyundai Motor will make strenuous efforts to make innovative mobility for human beings by inheriting Ulsan plant’s heritage of realizing a big dream based on people’s strengths.”
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