Hyundai is fast constructing its first US electric vehicle plant, with manufacturing set to begin in 2025

The steel skeletons of buildings where Hyundai will stamp, weld, paint, and assemble electric vehicles in Georgia stretch for more than a half mile on a large site populated with so many cranes, bulldozers, and construction workers that it nearly appears as if they’re constructing a little city.

It’s been a year since Hyundai Motor Group broke ground on the $7.6 billion car and battery complex, the South Korean automaker’s first U.S. factory dedicated to EV production. According to Hyundai executives, more than 2,000 people labour each week on the quickly expanding project west of Savannah, which the firm calls its American “metal plant.”

“The site is advancing every day as we work diligently to complete this amazing project,” Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America CEO Oscar Kwon told reporters on a visit to the site on Wednesday. “We are on track to start production in early 2025 – or, as my boss Jose Munoz likes to say, if not sooner.”

Hyundai’s president and worldwide chief operating officer, Munoz, announced last month that the business has accelerated construction in order to capitalise on federal subsidies that encourage domestic manufacture of EVs. He believes the plant might be operational by the end of next year.