Overseas Production
As Kia Motors recorded the highest overseas productions ever last month, it has started the “overseas production system” in earnest. Once its plant in Mexico is completed and begin production in May this year, Kia Motors’ overseas production rate will surpass 50 percent for the first time in history.
According to Hyundai-Kia Motors on Jan. 18, Kia Motors produced 142,330 cars in other countries in Dec. last year, reaching a record high. The figure was up 31.4 percent from the same period a year earlier. It also increased 11.4 percent in a month after the company made a new record with 124,857 units in Nov.
When Kia Motors Mexico Plant with an annual production capacity of 300,000 units is completed in May this year, the company will be able to produce a total of 1.68 million units annually. The figure will exceed the domestic production capacity with 16.3 million units for the first time. It is meaningful for the company since its foreign production ratio will surpass 50 percent for the first time.
The rapid increase in overseas productions is largely due to production expansion in its plants in China. Kia Motors sold 70,065 units in China in Nov. last year, exceeding monthly sales of 70,000 units for the first time. The company established Dongfeng Yueda Kia Motor, a joint venture between Dongfeng Motor Corp, and set up the plant in Yancheng, China, in 2002. The joint venture produced the first model produced in other countries, which is a strategic car model in China. Since then, the company built the second plant in 2007 and third plant in 2014, securing an annual production capacity of 740,000 units.
A Kia Motor official said, “This is because plants, whose operation rates fell behind its production capacity, have increased production with new car model effects as the Chinese market has recovered. Also, it is partially due to the fact that there is an increase in sales of the Sorento and Sportage, which are produced in the plants in the U.S. and Europe, with growing popularity of SUVs.”
Kia Motors also established a plant with an annual production capacity of 300,000 units in Zilina, Slovakia, in 2006, and is producing the Ceed and Venga, strategic car models for Europe, as well as Sportage. In 2009, the company built a plant with an annual production capacity of 340,000 cars in Georgia, the U.S., and is producing the Sorento, K5 and Santa Fe.
Domestic automakers’ overseas productions recorded 401,784 units in March last year, surpassing the monthly production of 400,000 units for the first time. The figure increased to 412,716 units in Oct., reaching a record high, and 465,280 units in Dec.