November 26, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Kia Motors’ sales in Mexico have jumped more than five times from a year earlier in 2016, according to the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency on Feb. 10

Kia Motors sold 58,112 vehicles in Mexico, up 427.3 percent from a year earlier. Such a sharp increase followed the opening of the company’s new production facility there earlier in the year.

The Mexico plant, Kia’s fourth overseas facility, currently has an annual capacity of 300,000 cars, at least half of which were originally meant for American consumers.

Kia has a production facility with an annual capacity of 340,000 cars in Georgia, but the number is not enough to meet the fast growing demand in the US, the world’s second-largest market for Kia and its larger affiliate Hyundai Motor.

The new plant in Mexico, however, quickly became a new source of a headache after new US President Donald Trump proposed a 35 percent import tax on all cars produced outside of the US. Should the US begin imposing such high tariffs on imported vehicles, a large number of vehicles produced in Mexico could be left stranded.

(theinvestor@heraldcorp.com)