South Korea's Hyundai resumes production at local plant for EV sedan

Hyundai Motor said on Monday it has resumed production at one of its seven domestic plants after a four-week suspension to prepare for the production of an electric vehicle.

Hyundai halted the Asan plant from July 13 to August 6 to upgrade the facilities before it begins production of the IONIQ 6 midsize sedan later this year.

The 300,000-unit-a-year Asan plant produces the Sonata sedan and the Santa Fe SUV, reports Yonhap news agency.

In February, the maker of the Sonata sedan and the Palisade SUV unveiled the IONIQ5 all-electric model embedded with its own EV-only electric-global modular platform (E-GMP) in line with rival carmakers' electrification push.

Hyundai plans to introduce the IONIQ 6 next year and the IONIQ 7 large SUV in 2024.

It will begin using alphanumeric names like its bigger rivals, such as BMW, whose models are named Series No. 1-8.

It has seven domestic plants -- five in Ulsan, one in Asan and one in Jeonju -- and 10 overseas plants -- four in China and one each in the United States, the Czech Republic, Turkey, Russia, India and Brazil.

Their combined capacity reaches 5.5 million vehicles.

--IANS

na/