Hyundai Motor Sells Chongqing Plant in China for 300 Billion KRW

Hyundai Motor Group has sold its Chongqing plant in China, which was put up for sale, for 300 billion KRW. Following the sale of the Chongqing plant, Hyundai Motor is also planning to sell the Changzhou plant within this year. As a result, Hyundai's production bases in China, which once expanded to five locations, are expected to be reduced to two.

According to industry sources on the 16th, at the end of last year, Beijing Hyundai, Hyundai Motor's joint venture in China, sold the Chongqing plant to 'Wufu Industrial Park Construction Co., Ltd.' located in Liangjiang New Area, Chongqing City, for 1.62 billion yuan (approximately 299 billion KRW). The sale process was completed in less than four months since it was put up for sale in August last year.

At the groundbreaking ceremony of Hyundai Motor's Chongqing plant in China held in 2015, then Vice Chairman Chung Euisun of Hyundai Motor is delivering a greeting.
[Photo by Hyundai Motor]

The largest shareholder of Wufu Industrial Park Construction Co., Ltd. is the Chongqing Liangjiang New Area Development and Investment Group. The sold Chongqing plant is known to be planned for conversion and operation as an electric vehicle production facility by New Energy Vehicle Industry Development, another subsidiary of Chongqing Liangjiang New Area Development and Investment Group. Industry insiders believe that the entire sale process was effectively led by the Chongqing city government.

Previously, Hyundai Motor announced plans to restructure its China business to improve profitability. It sold the Beijing Plant 1 in 2021, and following the sale of the Chongqing plant, it is also pushing for the sale of the Changzhou plant as early as this year. Ultimately, this means that only Beijing Plants 2 and 3 will remain, and production facilities in China will be streamlined.

Instead of maintaining a large share in the Chinese market, Hyundai Motor is recently shifting its production bases to the United States, India, and Southeast Asia. Hyundai is constructing an electric vehicle-only plant, 'Metaplant America (HMGMA),' in the U.S., aiming for completion in the second half of this year. Additionally, it has announced plans to invest approximately 5 trillion KRW in India over the next decade.