Hyundai, Kia plan to invest $16.5 billion in EV production in South Korea

Hyundai Motor Co. and its Kia affiliate plan to invest $16.5 billion to boost electric vehicle production in South Korea, including building a new factory that would ultimately have the capacity to produce around 150,000 cars a year.

Under the plan, the two automakers aim to increase annual EV production in the nation to 1.44 million units by 2030, up from an expected 350,000 units this year, Hyundai said in a statement Wednesday. That forecast would account for about 45 percent of Hyundai and Kia's planned global EV production volume by then.

The new factory will be located within Kia's existing Hwaseong manufacturing site, Kia said in a separate statement. Construction is expected to begin in the first half of 2023, with commercial production starting in the second half of 2025.

Hyundai Motor Group, including Kia, Hyundai Motor and Genesis, aims to sell 3.23 million EVs a year globally by 2030, shooting for a 12 percent share of the global EV market.