Hyundai To Build Mexico Plant

VERACRUZ, Mexico — Hyundai is getting closer to pinpointing a location for its third North American assembly plant, and it's expected to be coming to Mexico. It is part of the company's ambitious plan to triple its footprint in North America within four years.

Officials from Promexico, a government agency that promotes exports and foreign investment, have disclosed that negotiations with Hyundai are already in progress. The new plant could produce the new Hyundai Accent and the Kia Rio in 2013, which could add up to 150,000 additional vehicles to the Korean automaker's North American output.

The new plant would be in addition to the existing Hyundai plant in Montgomery, Alabama, and Kia's brand-new West Point, Georgia, facility, which is slated to go into large-scale production in early 2010. The new facility will produce 350,000 units, including the 2011 Kia Sorento and Forte and the 2013 Hyundai Santa Fe. Overall, the three plants should be producing more than 800,000 units in 2013.

Hyundai-Kia seems to have a penchant for the name Veracruz. The company launched a near-luxury crossover named Veracruz about two and a half years ago, and the Mexican state of Veracruz, near the Gulf of Mexico, is believed to be a strong contender for the location where a new plant would be built.

Inside Line says: Hyundai moves ever closer to matching Japan's strength in the North American market. — Loriana Marietta, Correspondent