Celebrating 10 Years of Achievement

Kia Motors' plant in George of the United States

The Kia Motors Georgia plant in the United States has exceeded 3 million units in cumulative output since its launch 10 years ago. The Georgia plant, the third-largest overseas production base for Kia Motors after those in China and Europe, currently rolls out the midsize sedan K5 and the sports utility vehicle (SUV) Sorento and Telluride.

Kia Motors held its 10th anniversary ceremony at the Georgia Plant in West Point, Georgia of the United States on Nov. 18 (local time).

The event was attended by Chung Eui-sun, vice chairman of Hyundai Motor Group, and more than 1,000 local officials including governor Brian Kemp of Georgia and congressman Drew Ferguson of Georgia.

The Georgia plant began a full-scale operation in November 2009. It has a full production system including press work, body manufacture, coating, and assembling on a site of about 2.612,000 square meters and can produce 340,000 units annually. By car type, the plant has churned out approximately 1.3 million units of the Sorento by October this year, 936,000 units of the K5 since 2011, and 56,000 units of the Telluride since January of this year. In addition, the plant has produced about 741,000 units of the Hyundai SUV Santa Fe for Hyundai Motor.

A new hit from the Georgia plant is the Telluride, which was launched in the United States in February. A total of 45,284 units of the Telluride North American model with a gasoline 3.8 engine were sold until October. The model received good reviews from local experts. The U.S. Motor Trend, one of the world's leading automotive magazines, selected the Telluride as the SUV of 2020. This was the first time that Motor Trend selected a Korean car as the SUV of a year. The magazine has selected winners of the honor for 21 years since 1999.

The Telluride received high points for safety, driving performance, and progressive design in an evaluation of a total of 41 models including the BMW X5, the Mercedes GLS, and the Porsche Cayenne. In addition, Peter Schreyer, president of design management at Kia Motors, was named “Motor Trend's Person of the Year 2020” for the first time as an employee of the Hyundai Motor Group which includes Kia Motors.

Earlier, the Telluride finished first after outclassing Ford's Explorer and Buick's Enclave in a seven-seat SUV evaluation by leading American car magazine Car and Driver.

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