Alabama may be about to become the United States’ undisputed King of Car Manufacturing

Hyundai Santa Fe (Flickr User Automotive Rhythms)
Hyundai Santa Fe (Flickr User Automotive Rhythms)

MONTGOMERY, Ala. — According to reports, the Montgomery area could soon be receiving a second Hyundai plant capable of building 300,000 vehicles a year.

While no one at Hyundai or the state will confirm or deny the reports, the South Korean Yonhap News Agency wrote Wednesday that the car manufacturing giant will soon make an announcement, and production would begin as soon as 2017.

National Hyundai spokesman Jim Trainor said in the Detroit Free Press Wednesday that officially “there are no plans at this stage” to announce an additional plant. But the desire for more vehicles — either built locally or exported from Korea — is well known.

According to reports, the new factory would build Hyundai’s larger Tucson and Santa Fe crossover vehicles. Demand for SUVs has begun to climb again and demand for the company’s sedans already built in Montgomery have slowed slightly as fuel prices have fallen,.

Just last year Alabama broke its previous record for automotive production with over 1 million vehicles being built in the state. An additional 300,000 per year could firmly make Alabama the car-making capital of the country.

Yellowhammer will release more details as they become known.

(H/T WSFA)


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