Kia Plans to Boost Soul, Sportage Output at Korea Plant
The 171 billion won investment would increase the Gwangju factory’s annual capacity nearly 25%, from the current 500,000 units to 620,000 by 2013.
A Kia spokesman confirms the auto maker and its employee union will discuss plans to expand annual capacity by more than 100,000 units at its combined commercial vehicle-SUV-passenger manufacturing complex in Gwangju, Korea.
The Gwangju factory currently produces the Sportage SUV and Soul urban car, in addition to trucks and buses. It also assembles complete-knocked-down units of the Sportage and Soul for subsequent assembly in China.
The expansion would entail investment of 171 billion won ($151 million) and would increase annual capacity from about 500,000 units currently to 620,000 by 2013.
The design capacity of the Gwangju plant is 420,000 units, but it has been operating well in excess of that number of vehicles.
When the Soul was introduced in 2009, annual capacity at Gwangju was set at 135,000 units, with another 40,000 China-specific versions of the boxy car to be produced at Kia’s joint-venture Yangcheng facility in Jiangsu, China.
Through November, 165,549 units of the Soul have been sold overseas. The Sportage, which also is built at Kia’s plant in Zilina, Slovakia, has sold 303,482 units overseas.
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