List of Kia design and manufacturing facilities

Kia Motors is a South Korean automobile manufacturer, with a production output of 2 million vehicles per year. Pictured is the Kia Forte Koup.

Kia Motors maintains a number of design and manufacturing facilities in its home country of South Korea, as well as the United States, Eastern Europe, China and Japan.[1]

Design facilities

Namyang Design Center

The Namyang Design Center, located in Hwaseong, South Korea, serves as Kia's primary design facility.[2] The facility, which is shared with parent company Hyundai, is located on over 3.3 million square meters of land and serves as the central hub for engineering work encompassing the entire design process, from pre-design studies, prototyping and extensive track testing, full-scale wind tunnel aerodynamic testing.[3] to crash testing.[4] Kia and Hyundai employees from around the world receive training at the Namyang Center.[4]

Kia Design Center America

The Kia Design Center America in Irvine, California, is located on a 22 acres (8.9 ha) corporate campus[5] with a $130 million initial investment,[5] the Irvine, California Kia Design Center was designed by Skidmore, Owings & Merrill[5] and was completed in 2008, featuring 45 workstations and nine offices.[6] The studio can model up to eight vehicles at once and includes a computerized milling machine that can quickly create full-size models.[6] Work and presentation areas include a 2-D presentation room, "a kind of darkroom in virtual reality where up to three full-size digital images can be projected for evaluation and comparison."[6]

The 239,000-square-foot (22,200 m2) building[5] features a hallmark 6,000-square-foot (560 m2) entry canopy[6] and sits aside a 36,000-square-foot (3,300 m2) reflecting pool.[5] The parking lot includes an environmentally efficient bioswale system to filter water runoff.[5]

Kia Design Center Europe

The Kia Design Center Europe was opened in 2007 in Frankfurt, Germany. Kia had previously shared a facility with Hyundai in Russelsheim, Germany.[7] The new headquarters building is located adjacent to Frankfurt's main showground where the city hosts its biennial auto show.[7]

Manufacturing

Sohari Plant

2006 Kia Carnival, short-wheelbase version, produced at the Sohari Plant

South Korea: The Sohari Plant was Kia Motors first integrated automobile manufacturing plant,[8] established in 1973 on 498,908 square metres (5,370,200 sq ft) of land. Subsequently, the plant manufactured Kia's first internal combustion engine,[8] followed by the manufacture of its first automobile, the Kia Brisa (1974–1982). In 1975, Kia exported its first vehicle, the Brisa pickup, to the Middle Eastern nation of Qatar.[9]

The South Korean government forced Kia to halt car production in 1981, assessing the Korean auto market as too competitive.[10] In 1986, the government allowed the company to resume manufacturing with its agreement to build the Ford Festiva for export.[10]

The Sohari Plant manufactured the Kia Pride and its rebadged variants the Ford Festiva[10] and Mazda 121, as well as the subsequent Kia Avella and its variant, the Ford Aspire. The factory currently manufactures the Kia Carnival/Sedona (and its variant the Hyundai Entourage, 2007–2009), Kia Rio and Kia K9/Quoris/K900, with an annual output of 340,000 vehicles.[11]

The plant is located in Soha-dong, Gwangmyeong, South Korea, near the country's capital of Seoul in the Gyeonggi province — with ready access to labor, other resources and transportation facilities, as well as the Seoul metropolitan area.[12]

Hwasung Plant

South Korea: Located in Woojeong-myeon, Gyeonggi Province and established in 1991, the plant covers 3,199,636 square metres (34,440,600 sq ft) of land and manufactures the Kia Optima/K5, Kia Forte/Cerato, Kia Sorento, and Kia Mohave/Borrego. By July 2001, cumulative production had passed the 3 million mark. The facility maintains a proving ground with a high-speed oval, 12 different test tracks extending to a total length of 14 kilometres (8.7 mi) and 32 different road surfaces.

Gwangju Plant

South Korea: Located in Gwangju on approximately 1,022,244 square metres (11,003,340 sq ft) of land, the facility produces the Kia Soul, Kia Carens/Rondo, Kia Sportage, and Kia Bongo/K-Series, as well as buses and military vehicles

Seosan Plant

South Korea: Located in Seosan, the facility opened in 2004 as a joint venture with Donghee. It manufactures 230,000 units a year and is the producer of the Kia Picanto/Morning.[13]

Chu Lai Plant

Vietnam: Since 2001,[14] Kia manufactured automobiles as part of a joint ventured with Truong Hai Automobile Co. at a factory located in Chu Lai, Quảng Nam Province, Vietnam.[15] The site covers 320 hectares (790 acres), and Truong Hai was the first private company in Vietnam to manufacture automobiles, and the first to achieve an annual output of 5,000 automobiles.[14] The facility expanded in 2003 on 38 ha in Tam Hiep Industrial Park with an investment of VND1,900 billion.[14] In 2007, Truong Hai Automobile Co. Ltd became Truong Hai Automobile Joint Stock Company (Thaco), with automobiles marketed as Thaco-Kia.

Žilina Plant

Slovakia: In April 2007,[16] Kia opened its first plant in Europe, at the initial cost of €1b, in Žilina, Slovakia, about 200 kilometres north-east of Bratislava, with initial production concentrating around the Kia Cee'd model, designed exclusively for the European market. The eventual capacity of the plant is 300,000 units per year.[17] It is one of the few auto factories in the world that is capable of building up to eight different models on the same line, and build ratios can be tweaked to suit demand.[18]

Yancheng Plant

China: In December 2007, Kia Motors Corporation opened its manufacturing facility in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province, its second plant in China and its second plant in conjunction as a joint venture.[19] Dongfeng Yueda Kia (DYK) Motors is a joint venture of Kia and China’s Dongfeng Automotive Group first established in 2002. The new facility is 3.9 million sq.-ft. (367,794 sq.-m)[19] and is located just 2.2 miles (3.5 km) from the joint venture's existing facility.[19] At an initial cost of US$800 million, the fully integrated passenger car production facility will have an annual capacity of 300,000 units, boosting DYK’s total annual capacity to 430,000 vehicles.[20]

Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia (KMMG)

United States: Officially Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia (KMMG), Kia's plant in West Point, Georgia, is capable of producing 300,000 cars annually[21] for the North American and global markets. At an initial cost of $1 billion (US)[21] the facility comprises 2.2 million-square-feet[21] on more than 2,200 acres (8.9 km2) of land[21] near Interstate 85.[22] The facility currently manufactures the second generation Sorento and the 2011–present Kia Optima.[23]

In addition to four main areas (stamping, welding, paint and assembly), the facility also includes a transmission shop, module shop and a two-mile (3 km) test track.[21] The assembly area features more than a half mile of height-adjustable conveyors and wood flooring.

Production began with the second generation Kia Sorento on November 16, 2009.[21]

References

  1. ↑ "KIA MOTORS CORPORATION". Kia Motors Corporation. Kia spends 6% of its annual revenues on R&D and also runs research centres in the USA, Japan and Germany.
  2. ↑ "Designer of New Beetle and Audi TT to Spearhead KIA Global Design". Autochannel, July 31, 2006:.
  3. ↑ "Styling & Design". Kia Press.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 "KMMG Team Members enjoy training in Korea". Kia Press, August 21, 2009.
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 5.4 5.5 "Kia's Irvine headquarters earns design distinction". OC Metro, Kristen Schott, November 18, 2009.
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 "Kia Design Center America Opens". Edmunds.com, InsideLine, Jun 24, 2008.
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Kia Erecting European Design Center in Germany". Edmunds.com, 07-13-2005.
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Kia Motors Overview". Edmunds.com.
  9. ↑ "Kia Hits 5 Million Exports". Carpages.co.uk, 26th March 2005.
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 "2d Korean Car Maker To Enter U.S. Market". The New York Times, Doron P. Levin, February 17, 1992. February 17, 1992.
  11. ↑ "All New 2006 Kia Rio Makes World Debut at North American International Auto Show in Detroit". Autointell.com.
  12. ↑ City official page
  13. ↑ "Kia Picanto City Review (2013)". Carpages. 2013-02-02. Retrieved 2014-03-22.
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 "Truong Hai Auto: A Powerful Economic Group". Vietnam Business Forum. November 12, 2008.
  15. ↑ "Kia-branded trucks roll out from central region". Vietnam.net. 2004-11-17.
  16. ↑ "Grand Opening Ceremony for Kia’s Slovakia plant". Kia Motors. 27 April 2005. Retrieved 1 February 2014. Although the Zilina facility has been manufacturing Kia cee’d cars since December 2006, Kia Motors Corporation and the Slovakian Government agreed that the construction of this all-new facility, which has created more than 10,000 new jobs in the region, is so immensely significant that it should be formally celebrated.
  17. ↑ "Kia’s new factory in Slovakia". Easier cars, 26 September 2005.
  18. ↑ "Robots run flexible Kia plant in Slovakia". National Post. 7 July 2012. Archived from the original on 29 January 2013.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 "Kia to Launch New China Plant in 2007". WardsAuto.com, Vince Courtenay, Nov 15, 2006.
  20. ↑ "Kia opens second Chinese factory". Easier cars, 11 December 2007.
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 21.2 21.3 21.4 21.5 "Kia Celebrates Grand Opening of $1 Billion State-of-the-Art Automobile Manufacturing Plant in Georgia". Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia. 26 February 2010. Archived from the original on 6 March 2010.
  22. ↑ Couret, Jacques; Mahoney, Ryan (May 18, 2006). "State and Kia: Georgia plant still a go". Retrieved 2008-06-28.
  23. ↑ "Kia says first cars built in Georgia will be SUVs". Retrieved 2008-06-28.

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