The Sportage Hybrid, Kia’s flagship compact sport utility vehicle (SUV), has been produced at Hyundai Motor Group’s plant in Georgia, United States, “Metaplant America” (HMGMA). This is the first time the plant, which had produced only Hyundai Motor vehicles since it began operations two years ago, has manufactured a Kia vehicle.

Kia announced on the 3rd that it held a ceremony on the 2nd (local time) at Hyundai Motor Group’s HMGMA to mark the start of Sportage Hybrid production. The event was attended by Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, Kia North America Division Head Yoon Seung-kyu (President), and HMGMA head Heo Tae-yang (Executive Vice President), among others.

The Sportage Hybrid is the first Kia vehicle and the first hybrid model to be produced at HMGMA. For the group as a whole, it is the third mass-production model at the plant, following the Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Ioniq 9. Kia stated that with this addition, HMGMA has become an electrification production hub encompassing both electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles.

Kia is successively launching hybrid model production at its U.S. local manufacturing bases. In February this year, it began producing the hybrid version of another SUV, the Telluride, at the West Point plant in Georgia. This is the first hybrid vehicle produced in Georgia state.

By combining the production capacity of the West Point plant and HMGMA, Kia plans to increase its total annual production capacity in Georgia, United States, to 550,000 vehicles across all models by 2030. Currently, only the West Point plant is in operation, producing 350,000 vehicles per year.

Yoon said, “Through Metaplant production of the Sportage Hybrid, Kia will further strengthen its growth in the United States.” Heo added, “The start of this production will serve as an important milestone for Georgia in full-scale implementation of future mobility.”

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