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This Is Where Hyundai Cars Are Made

By: Author Stefan K.

Posted on Last updated:

Categories Buyer Questions

This Is Where Hyundai Cars Are Made

We’ve talked extensively about several different Hyundai cars and where they are made precisely on this blog. However, there’s so much more that goes into the operation of Hyundai when we look at the North-American and worldwide market. Therefore, we have created this complete resource that tells you exactly how and where Hyundai cars are made.

Hyundai cars for the North-American market are mainly made in Montgomery, Alabama, Westpoint, Georgia, and Ulsan, South Korea. Furthermore, the Alabama plant produces many Smartstream engines, whereas the Georgia plant manufactures automatic transmissions.

On a global scale, Hyundai cars are mainly made in Ulsan, South Korea, responsible for 25% of the worldwide production of Hyundai. The Beijing Hyundai Motor Company is the second-largest plant and manufactures 23% of global output. Hyundai Motor India in Hyderabad is the third-largest plant and manufactures 11% of global output.

However, that certainly doesn’t answer the question entirely. In this blog post, we’ll go through all assembly locations (for the North-American market and worldwide). Furthermore, we’ll discuss where the engines and transmissions are made and how many each facility makes. We also take a deep-dive into where the parts are made, where the seats are made, and who is responsible for making the technology that goes into a Hyundai. We even have a look at where they get their steel from. Read on!

What's Inside show

Assembly Locations

Hyundai cars sold in the North American market have had different assembly locations throughout the generations. Early Hyundai models, manufactured before 2005, were mainly made in Ulsan, South Korea.

Ulsan Plant

The plant opened in 1968 and, to this day, this is the largest manufacturing plant that Hyundai owns. The plant covers an area of 5 million square meters, has 34,000 employees, and produces around 1,4 million Hyundai vehicles each year, which is equal to 25% of their global output.

The Ulsan plant assembles many cars for the American/International market, including the Veloster, Kona, Ioniq (5), Santa Fe, Tucson, Palisade (click on the hyperlink to be redirected to a specific article about the production of the Palisade), Genesis G70/G80/G90/GV80, Elantra, i30, Venue, Starex, Porter, Staria, and Nexo.

Asan Plant

The Asan plant is another Korean-based assembly facility that was opened in 1996. It covers an area of 1,83 million square meters, has 4,000 employees, and assembles around 300,000 cars per year, equal to about 6% of global output. This plant mainly focuses on the assembly of the Hyundai Sonata and Grandeur. Furthermore, it also plays a central role in the production of Hyundai engines which we’ll talk more about in a minute.

Alabama Plant

Another plant that we have to mention is the Montgomery, Alabama Plant which is also referred to as HMMA (Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama). This plant was opened in 2005 to manufacture part of the production for the American market.

The plant has 7,16 million square meters in surface area, employs 3,100 workers, and assembles around 370,000 vehicles per year which is 8% of global output. Furthermore, the plant also manufacturers engines for the American market. More on that later.

The Alabama plant is partially responsible for the assembly of the Sonata (May 2005 – Present), Santa Fe (April 2006 – Present), Elantra (November 2010 – Present), Tucson (February 2021 – Present), and Santa Cruz (June 2021 – Present). You can click on the hyperlinks for each car to be redirected to an article that talks about where that specific car is made and how this changed through the generations.

Other Plants

The plants we’ve mentioned above are the prominent assembly locations Hyundai has. Those facilities provide 39% of global output, and practically all assembly for the North American market is done here. However, Hyundai is an international company with many (smaller) facilities serving different markets. Below we’ll provide you with the complete list of these facilities together with a summary:

  • Gwangju Global Motors: Joint venture between Hyundai and the government of Gwangju, South Korea. The plant was opened in 2021, employs a 1,000 people and assembles 70,000 vehicles per year.
  • Hyundai Motor Brasil in Sao Paulo: Plant was opened in 2012, employs 2,486 people and assembles 180,000 vehicles per year. Only the Hyundai HB20 and Creta are assembled here.
  • Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Czech in Nošovice: The plant opened in 2007, employs 3,248 people and assembles 350,000 vehicles per year. This includes the i30/Tucson/ix35 and Kona Electric (mainly for the European market).
  • Hyundai Assan Automotive in Kozyatagi, Turkey: Opened in 1997, employs 2,467 people and assembles 230,000 vehicles per year. These include the i20, i10 and Bayon.
  • Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Rus in Saint Petersburg: Opened in 2010, employs 2,245 people andioassembles 200,000 vehicles per year. These include the Hyundai Solaris, Kia Rio and Hyundai Creta.
  • Hyundai Motor India: Opened in 1998, employs 8,600 people and assembles 680,000 vehicles. These include the Santro, Verna, i10, i20, Xcent, Creta, Venue, Aura, Alcazar, Elantra, Tucson and Kona Electric.
  • Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Indonesia: Opened in 2021 and assembles 150,000 vehicles per year.
  • Beijing Hyundai Motor Company: 50-50 joint venture between Hyundai and Beijing Automotive Holdings. Opened in 2002, employs 15,768 people and assembles 1,25 million cars per year. These include the Sonata, Elantra, Tucson, ix35, Verna, Santa Fe, Mistra, ix25, Celesta, Reina, Encino, Lafesta, and Custo.
  • Hyundai Thanh Cong Manufacturing Vietnam: Joint venture between Hyundai and Thang Cong Automotive. Opened in 2011, employs 3,400 people and assembles 170,000 vehicles per year including the i10, Tucson, Porter, Accent, Kona, and Santa Fe.

Engines

Let’s move on to where the engines for Hyundai cars are made. As with the assembly plants, Hyundai has many facilities that manufacture different engines. Furthermore, some assembly plants also double as a manufacturing plants for engines.

Specifically, the Asan plant is responsible for producing NU, Theta, and Lambda engines. This plant manufactures 600,000 engines which means it’s responsible for 11% of the global engine production of Hyundai. These engines are placed into Hyundai sold in Asia and the Pacific region. Also, the American-sold Hyundai Palisade uses Lambda engines made in Asan, South Korea.

The Montgomery plant in Alabama also recently started manufacturing Smartstream engines. Specifically the G2.5 GDI, G1.6 T-GDI, G2.0 Atkinson, G2.5 GDI, and G2.5 T-GDI engines. This plant manufactures around 700,000 of these engines, making it responsible for 13% of the global engine production of Hyundai. It won’t be a surprise that these engines are mainly used in American-sold Hyundai and that most of the current Hyundai sold in North America make use of Smartstream engines.

The Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Plant in Czech is mainly responsible for producing engines for the European market. This facility manufactures 530,000 engines per year, making it responsible for 10% of global output.

Finally, the Hyundai Motor India plant manufactures engines for the whole world. This is because this facility mainly produces diesel engines. The India plant is responsible for producing the 1.5L and 2.0L BS6 diesel engines. Both the American-sold Tucson and Palisade make use of a 2.0L diesel engine. This facility makes 850,000 engines per year and is, therefore, responsible for 17% of global output.

Please note that Hyundai doesn’t import any engines from other manufacturers anymore. In the past, Hyundai used to buy engines from Mitsubishi motors. Furthermore, they wear part of a global alliance between Hyundai, Mitsubishi, and Chrysler. However, they stopped this alliance in 2009 and have since relied on themselves.

Transmissions, Seats and More

Furthermore, it’s interesting that Hyundai also makes most of its own transmissions. These transmissions are made by an affiliate of Hyundai named Hyundai TRANSYS. This company consisted of two separate companies called Hyundai DYMOS and Hyundai Powertech. On the 1st of January 2019, these two companies merged to form Hyundai TRANSYS.

Before that, Hyundai Powertech was formed in 2001 and was responsible for producing Hyundai’s automatic transmissions. It also made automatic transmissions for Kia, Dodge, and Jeep.

Hyundai DYMOS was founded in 1994 and supplied manual transmissions to Hyundai. These included DCT and AMT transmissions used in Hyundai vehicles. Furthermore, it’s good to know that this company was also responsible for producing axles, 4WD, and seats for Hyundai.

These days Hyundai TRANSYS is responsible for producing all these elements (automatic, manual, and other critical aspects of the car). Below we’ve created an overview of the Hyundai TRANSYS locations that are responsible for the production of Hyundai transmissions and other vital parts:

Korea

  • Jigok Plant: automatic transmissions and CVT (full line-up)
  • Seongyeon Plant: manual transmissions, DCT, axles and special powertrains (for railway and military)
  • Dongtan: seat R&D center
  • Hwaseong: powertrain R&D center
  • Hyundai Mseat (Asan/Ulsan): Seats

USA

  • Georgia Plant: automatic transmissions, seats and seat foam pad for the North-American market
  • Michigan: R&D Center/Office

China

  • Rizhao Plant 1: automatic transmission, DCT, axles (for Santa Fe, Tucson, Sportage)
  • Beijing Plant: manual transmission, DCT
  • Rizhao Plant 2: automatic transmission, front-wheel 6-speed, hybrid automatic transmission
  • Beijing Seat Plant: seats and seat foam pad
  • Cangzhou Plant: seats and seat foam pad
  • Sichuan Plant: transmissions, axles and seats
  • Chongqing Plant: seats and seat foam pad

Technology

As with every car manufacturer, Hyundai also needs to source its technological parts somewhere. Just as with the transmissions and the seats, Hyundai has affiliate companies that do all this work for them.

Hyundai MOBIS

One of these companies is called Hyundai MOBIS. MOBIS is responsible for producing almost all technology used in Hyundai vehicles.

Examples of this include chassis, cockpit and front-end modules, multimedia systems, instrument panels, steering parts, electronic stability parts, anti-lock brake system parts, and so on.

The company has two R&D centers in Korea (in Mabuk and Uiwang), an R&D center in Plymouth, Michigan. They also have three locations in China: Shanghai (R&D), Yantai (testing and prototyping), Shenzhen (proof of concept). They also have an ICT center in Hyderabad, India, and an R&D center in Frankfurt am Main, Germany.

Hyundai KEFICO

Another affiliated company is KEFICO, they are responsible for the production of injections systems and the incorporation of artificial intelligence, and a large part of the technology used in EVs (such as regenerative braking).

The company has its headquarters in Gosan-ri, South Korea. They have three offices: one in Sriperumbudur, India; one in Montgomery, Alabama; and one in Žilina, Slovakia.

Furthermore, they have a production facility in Chongqing, China, where actuators and sensors are made. They also have a plant in Beijing, China, where actuators, sensors, modules, and control units are produced. The same things are manufactured in another Chinese plant in Rizhao.

One Vietnamese plant also makes actuators, sensors, modules, and control units. This plant is located in Hai Duong City. Finally, intake modules and fuel rail modules are made in a Mexican plant in Salinas Victoria.

Hyundai AutoEver

Hyundai AutoEver is an affiliate that’s responsible for all the software that’s used in cars. They don’t manufacture any parts, but they create the software used for location-based services, multimedia, and all other connectivity-based purposes.

They have four locations in the United States which include: Fountain Valley and Irvine in California, Montgomery, Alabama, and Westpoint, Georgia.

They have four other locations worldwide: Seoul, Korea; Frankfurt, Germany; Beijing, China; and Chennai, India.

Body Parts

Hyundai body parts (such as doors, hoods, and everything else that consists of pressed metal or plastic) are made by another affiliate company called Hyundai Partecs. The company has its headquarters in Seosan, Korea, and they also have a plant attached that manufactures these body parts. Furthermore, they have a secondary location in Iksan, South Korea, where the same body parts are made.

Exterior Lights

It will be no surprise that an affiliate company also makes all the lights on a Hyundai. This company is called Hyundai IHL, and they solely focus on making headlights, taillights, and indicator lights for Hyundai. In Gyeongju, South Korea, they have one manufacturing plant that provides lamps for all Hyundai sold worldwide.

Steel

As you can imagine, cars need an enormous amount of steel to be built. Furthermore, Hyundai is one of the leading car manufacturers globally, which means they need a tremendous amount of steel to keep production going. Hyundai has fixed this problem by incorporating three other affiliates into the mix. These companies are as follow:

  • Hyundai Steel: manufactures cold, rolled steel that’s eventually used to make large parts from.
  • Hyundai BNGsteel: manufactures stainless steel sheets and automotive parts.
  • Hyundai Specialsteel: manufactures wire rods, steel bars, automotive parts and materials.

Sources

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