Hyundai Officially Opens €1 Billion Manufacturing Plant in Nošovice, Czech Republic - VIDEO ENHANCED

• €1 billion investment
• 300,000 units per year and 11,000 jobs by 2011

Nošovice, Czech Republic - September 24, 2009: Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea’s largest automaker, officially opened its €1 billion manufacturing plant in Nošovice, Czech Republic, yesterday.

With mass production having started in November last year, Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Czech (HMMC), a fully-owned subsidiary of Seoul-based Hyundai Motor Co., has the current capacity to build 200,000 vehicles annually, which will be increased by 100,000 to reach 300,000 units per year in 2011.

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The first vehicle to be produced was the award-winning i30 C-class five-door hatchback, and was joined by its sister model, the i30cw (estate wagon), in February of this year. The third model to be built by HMMC will be the Kia Venga, a B-segment MPV, production of which will start in the last quarter of 2009, while a fourth model will be added in 2011, when production capacity will be increased to 300,00 units per annum in a three shift operation.

With the completion of the Czech factory, Hyundai Motor now has a production foothold in all major markets, including the USA, China, India and Turkey. This global production network will enable the company to supply top-quality vehicles to customers around the world more quickly and efficiently.

“With our global production system, we will continue to focus on providing the highest quality vehicles, the most important principle of our management philosophy. Our goal is, and always has been, to become one of the world’s leading automotive companies” said Hyundai Motor Co. Vice Chairman Euisun Chung at the opening ceremony today.

“The Nosovice plant does have a very vital role to play in realizing our global goals. So we will carefully nurture this new plant to make it an exemplary facility within the global automotive industry” he continued.

Production of the i30 hatchback and wagon, both designed at Hyundai’s European Design and Technical Center in Russelsheim, Germany, recently hit 80’000 units since November of last year. Approximately 90 percent of the models rolling out of the Nošovice plant are sold in Europe, while the remaining 10 percent are exported to the Middle East and Africa.

Fulfilling Hyundai’s promise to provide a significant impetus to the growth and development of the Czech economy, 2,000 new jobs have been directly created at the new plant. At the supplier level, a further 4,000 jobs have been created, taking the total number of associated employment to 6,000. By 2011, the company plans to extend its number of direct and indirect employees to 3,500 and 7,500, respectively, creating 11,000 jobs in total.