ELLABELL, Ga. (WSAV) — Hyundai Motor Group announced Friday that it’s building a massive electric vehicle plant in Bryan County. Hyundai will break ground in 2023 and begin producing vehicles in 2025.
The $5.5 billion plant will bring 8,100 new jobs to the area.
“This is a mega-regional project, it’s not just the four counties in the EDA, Bryan, Bulloch, Effingham and Chatham but this entire region of the state and the state as a whole,” Gov. Brian Kemp said. “It’s incredible growth for the ports but most of all, great opportunities for Georgia families and their kids and their grandkids will benefit from this. It is gonna be unreal.”
“Yes, we had many compelling options but finally picked Georgia for the best favorable business conditions,” said Jay Chang, pres and CEO of Hyundai Motor Group. “That is why we are here.”
Kemp spoke at the mega-site off of Highway 280 Friday afternoon alongside other state and local leaders.
“It is clear companies recognize that in Georgia we do not rest on our laurels and we will always continue to work towards our future,” Kemp said. “And after today no one can doubt that Georgia is not only leading the great recovery as a whole, but we’re also the unrivaled leader in the nation’s emerging electric mobility industry.”
The mega-site was bought jointly by the Savannah Harbor-Interstate 16 Corridor Joint Development Authority and the state less than a year ago.
Rep. Buddy Carter echoed Kemp’s statement in one of his own.
“I am thrilled that Hyundai chose Georgia as the home for its latest factory,” Carter said. “Not only will this investment bring thousands of jobs to the First District, but it will also boost America’s manufacturing economy, spurring innovation and global economic competitiveness within the region.”
“No one has going for them than (we do) with this site right here,” the governor said at the nearly 2,300-acre site in Ellabell last June.
Meanwhile, President Joe Biden is on the first trip of his administration to Asia to visit South Korea, where the automaker group is headquartered, as well as Japan.
The White House and Hyundai have been in discussions about the plant, the Associated Press reported.
Citing an official familiar with the anticipated announcement, AP said Hyundai’s investment will total more than $7 billion.
“So that’s like a huge thing for me born and raised here,” resident Brandy Adams said. “So, I think it’s a great thing for the Bryan county development authority and all the citizens who live there and the whole state of Georgia.”
“It really is getting very competitive in the EV market,” said Tiffony Buckle McCartney, sustainability manager of Georgia Ports Authority. “And just being able to have more competitors out there may make it a lot more feasible for the everyday man to go ahead and get an EV as well. As a sustainability person that’s fantastic.”
It will be the Peach State’s second massive electric vehicle plant announced in Georgia in less than a year.
Rivian Automotive in December announced it would build a $5 billion, 7,500-job electric truck plant about 45 miles east of Atlanta.
Bryan County — located about 25 miles inland from Savannah — grew by 48% over the last decade, according to figures released last August by the U.S. Census Bureau.
Not only does this make Bryan County the fastest-growing county in Georgia, but the sixth across the nation.
Hyundai Motor Group already operates two American assembly plants in West Point, Georgia, and Montgomery, Alabama.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
