Hyundai has invested in manufacturing plants in USA, India, the Czech Republic, Russia, China and Turkey as well as
research and development centers in
Europe,
Asia,
North America and the
Pacific Rim.
North America United States Hyundai Motor America began selling cars in the United States on 20 February 1986, with a single model, the
Hyundai Excel. That year, Hyundai set a record of selling the most automobiles in its first year of business in the
United States compared to any other car brand; total sales in 1986 were 168,882. Initially well received, the Excel's faults soon became apparent; cost-cutting measures caused reliability to suffer. With an increasingly poor reputation for quality, Hyundai sales plummeted, and many dealerships either earned their profits on repairs or abandoned the product. At one point, Hyundai became the butt of many jokes (i.e. Hyundai stands for "Hope you understand nothing's driveable and inexpensive"). In response, Hyundai began investing heavily in the quality, design, manufacturing, and long-term research of its vehicles. The company added free maintenance for the first 2 years or 24,000 miles for all its new cars sold, starting with the 1992 model year. It also added a 10-year or powertrain warranty (known as the Hyundai Advantage) to its vehicles sold in the United States. Hyundai incorporated a new manufacturing facility,
Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama, in April 2002. The new plant in
Montgomery, Alabama, was completed during 2004, at a cost of $1.7 billion. Production started in May 2005. It employed more than 3,000 workers in 2012. By 2004, sales had dramatically increased, and the reputation of Hyundai cars improved. In 2004, Hyundai tied with Honda for initial brand quality in a survey/study from
J.D. Power and Associates, for having 102 problems per 1000 vehicles. This made Hyundai second in the industry, only behind
Toyota, for initial vehicle quality. The company continued this tradition by placing third overall in
J.D. Power's 2006 Initial Quality Survey, behind only
Porsche and
Lexus. In 2009, the
Hyundai Genesis luxury sedan was named 2009
North American Car of the Year, the first for Hyundai. It also won the 2009
Canadian Car of the Year after winning its category of Best New Luxury Car under $50,000. The Hyundai's V8 Tau engine in the Genesis received 2009
Ward's 10 Best Engines award. In January 2012, the
Hyundai Elantra was named the
North American Car of the Year at the
North American International Auto Show, selling more than 200,000 cars since the model's redesigned debut.
Supernal The Hyundai Motor Company established Supernal, an
urban air mobility (UAM) subsidiary, in the United States in 2020. The name means "Best Quality" and "Heavenly". On 8 November 2023, Hyundai announced plans to build a plant in the US to produce flying taxis. As of February 2025, a full-scale technology demonstrator was undergoing ground testing. The prototype uses wingtip tilting rotors and four propellers fixed on booms that connect the wing to a "Bronco tail"—named after the
Rockwell OV-10 Bronco tail. In 2023, Supernal established its headquarters in
Washington, D.C., its research and development facility is in
Fremont, California, and its engineering headquarters is in
Irvine, California.
Canada In 1989, Hyundai Auto Canada Inc. opened a stamping and assembly plant in
Bromont, Quebec, employing 800. The plant cost $387.7 million, with Quebec and Canadian federal government subsidies of $131 million. The plant was designed to manufacture approximately 2000
Hyundai Sonatas per week. The Bromont plant was operational for four years before it closed – with Hyundai's sales unable to support the plant. With boost in sales in 2009, Hyundai Auto Canada Inc. is currently planning to build a new plant in Canada and resume production in Canada. Hyundai subsequently sold the plant,
Mexico Hyundai Motor Mexico entered the Mexican market in 2014 with the imported vehicles such as
Grand i10, the
Elantra, and the
ix35. Soon afterwards, the
Hyundai Sonata joined the lineup. Prior to the introduction of the Hyundai brand for non-commercial vehicles, Hyundai passenger vehicles, light-duty cargo vans, and passenger vans were distributed by Chrysler de México, branded as
Dodge.
South America Brazil , the first model exclusively introduced for the Brazilian market. 'HB' in HB20 stands for Hyundai Brasil. In October 2012, Hyundai launched a new small bi-fuel car, the
HB20, designed specifically for the Brazilian mass-market. The car was developed under the "Projeto HB" (Hyundai Brazil) project, and is built at a new Hyundai factory in Brazil, located in
Piracicaba,
São Paulo. The plant is the first wholly owned Hyundai plant in
Latin America. With an investment of around R$1.2 billion, the plant has the capacity to produce 180,000 cars per year under three shifts. Hyundai vehicles have also been produced in Brazil by local partner,
Caoa Group at a plant located in
Anápolis,
Goiás. Production here started with the
HR model in 2007, and continued with the
Tucson in 2010, the HD78 truck in 2011, and the
ix35 in 2013.
Asia China Hyundai formed a 50-50 joint venture with
Beijing Automotive Group since 2002 to produce cars in China. The joint venture is called Beijing Hyundai, which also manufactures several models which are exclusive to the Chinese market. It began operations in China by producing Sonata in December 2002. The joint venture sold 700,000 passenger cars in 2010, 855,995 car sales in 2012, and 2014 saw the company sell 1,120,000 vehicles. At its peak, the company had five plants: three located in Beijing, one in Hubei, and one in Chongqing. Hyundai cars sold well in China until 2016, when sales fell by half because of its over-reliance on sedans, poor brand images and local Chinese automakers compete with price-competitive SUVs. It marked the start of a slump that continued into 2019, when the company announced plans to cut jobs in the region.
Hawtai partnership Between 2002 and 2010,
Hawtai Motor had produced Chinese-market versions of the
Hyundai Matrix, the
Hyundai Santa Fe and the
Hyundai Terracan. and some of Hawtai's versions may greatly differ from those sold in other markets. Hyundai ended its partnership with Hawtai in 2010.
Commercial vehicles In October 2010, Hyundai signed an agreement with Sichuan Nanjun Automobile on setting up a commercial vehicle joint venture called Sichuan Hyundai Motor Co. Ltd.
India Hyundai Motor India Limited (HMIL) was formed on 6 May 1996. During the entry of Hyundai in 1996, fellow South Korean
Daewoo had entered the Indian automobile market just three years before, while
Ford,
Opel and
Honda had entered less than a year back. Hyundai's first car in the country, the
Hyundai Santro was launched on 23 September 1998 and was considered a success. It became the second best-selling car in the country from 2000. Hyundai has two manufacturing plants in India located at Sriperumbudur in the Indian state of
Tamil Nadu. Both plants have a combined annual capacity of 600,000 units. In the year 2007, Hyundai opened its R&D facility in
Hyderabad, employing now nearly 450 engineers from different parts of the country. Hyundai Motor India Engineering (HMIE) gives technical & engineering support in vehicle development to Hyundai's main R&D centre in Namyang, Korea. Hyundai is currently the second largest auto exporter from India. It is making India the global manufacturing base for small cars. In June 2017, The
Competition Commission of India imposed ₹87 crore ($13.6 million) penalty for unfair business practices with respect to providing discounts for cars.
Bangladesh Hyundai vehicles are assembled in Bangladesh with local partner, Fair Technology. Its manufacturing plant in Bangabandhu Hi-Tech Park was opened on 19 January 2023. The current focus is on importing
completely knocked down (CKD) parts and assembling those in the facility. The plant is expected to manufacture 10,000 cars per year.
Japan , Japan Hyundai started to market its vehicles in 2001. Despite having growing sales worldwide, Hyundai struggled in Japan, having sold only 15,095 passenger cars from 2001 to 2009. Following an announcement in November 2009, Hyundai pulled its passenger car division out of the Japanese market and focused on its commercial vehicle division instead. In addition, the Sonata was priced too similarly to its Japanese rivals, which resulted in poor sales. On 9 February 2022, Hyundai announced a comeback to Japan by marketing eco-friendly vehicles like the Ioniq 5 and Nexo with pre-orders from May 2022 for delivery beginning in July 2022 under the company name
Hyundai Mobility Japan. As of 2022, Hyundai Mobility Japan operates an office and R&D center in Yokohoma. In addition, it only operates its sales through online means only. The company was appointed by Hyundai Motor Company of South Korea in August 2001 as the official distributor of Hyundai vehicles in the Philippines. In early 2022, Hyundai Motor Philippines, Inc. (HMPH) became the official distributor of Hyundai passenger cars in the country after the company took over its passenger car operations from HARI, It started its operations on 1 June 2022.
Indonesia , Hyundai's largest manufacturing plant in Southeast Asia In November 2019, Hyundai announced that it is building the first wholly owned
Southeast Asian car plant located in
Indonesia. Known as
Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Indonesia (HMMI), it is built in Cikarang, Bekasi and will fully operate in the second half of 2021 with the annual capacity of 150,000 vehicles. Half of the output would be exported to the neighbouring countries in
Southeast Asia. A total of US$1.55 billion (Rp 21.7 trillion) would be invested to the plant along with the future product developments until 2030. HMMI would produce a region-specific
compact MPV among other models.
Vietnam In Vietnam, Hyundai operates as a joint venture with Thanh Cong Group, establishing Hyundai Thanh Cong Vietnam (HTV). According to the data of the Vietnam Association of Automobile Manufacturers (VAMA), Hyundai was the best-selling car brand in Vietnam in 2023 with 67,450 vehicles sold, followed by Toyota with 57,414 vehicles, and Kia with 40,773 vehicles.
Turkey In September 1997, Hyundai opened a manufacturing plant in Turkey, located in
İzmit, Kocaeli Province. The facility, named Hyundai Assan Otomotiv, was built as a 50-50% joint venture between the Hyundai Motor Company and the Kibar Holding of Turkey, the first stage investment raising to US$180 million. It currently has an annual production capacity of 125,000 units and it manufactured the
Accent, the
H-100, the
Starex, the
Matrix and since 2010, the
i20. In May 2013, Hyundai Turkey Izmit plant capacity was increased to up to 200,000 units with 470 million Euro investment. The i10 and i20 were started to be produced in the plant.
Malaysia In November 2024, it was reported that Hyundai Motor will be investing RM2.16 billion to set up a manufacturing plant in
Kulim,
Kedah. It is the largest investment by the South Korean automakers in the country to date. The plant is anticipated to produce 7 models within the space of 5 years and is scheduled to open for business in 2025.
Europe Germany Hyundai has been operating an R&D centre in
Frankfurt, Germany since 1994, that has been responsible for monitoring technology developments in Europe and designing and engineering new cars for the European market. In September 2003, the company opened its new European headquarters in
Rüsselsheim, after an investment worth 50 million euro. The site became the new location for the R&D centre and for the world rally team of the company.
Czech Republic In November 2008, Hyundai opened its European plant in
Nošovice, Czech Republic, following an investment of over 1 billion euros and over two years of construction. The plant, which mainly manufactures the
i30,
ix20,
ix35 for the European market, has an annual capacity of 300,000 cars. The new Hyundai plant is 90 kilometres north of Kia Motors'
Žilina Plant in Slovakia.
Russia In Russia, the production of the
Hyundai Accent,
Sonata,
Elantra and
Santa Fe models has been taking place at the
TagAZ plant, located in
Taganrog, since 2001, in the form of
complete knock-down kits assembly. Since 2006, the factory has also been assembling the
Hyundai Porter, that will eventually be increased to 200,000 units. It started mass production in January 2011, In September 2021, Hyundai Wia division opened a car engine manufacturing plant in Saint Petersburg, the biggest in Russia and the fifth in the world. The new plant is designed to produce about 330.000 engines for Hyundai Solaris and Creta as well as for Kia Rio by the end of the year 2021. The construction of the plant began in December 2019. In 2022, the company's revenue amounted to 112 billion rubles. In January 2024 Hyundai sold its two plants in Russia, enabling the company to exit the Russian market at a cost of $214.7 million.
Africa Southern Africa In
Botswana, the assembly of Hyundai Accent, Sonata, and Elantra models was undertaken by the
Motor Company of Botswana at its Gaborone plant, since February 1993, in the form of complete knock-down kits. Almost all of the finished vehicles were exported across Botswana's border to
South Africa, where the vast majority of dealerships are situated.
Egypt Hyundai cars are also manufactured in
Egypt, the local manufacturer is the
Ghabbour Group, which is located in
Cairo. They have a big model range and offers sports models of some car models which are only offered on the Egypt market. Formerly, the company had assembled vehicles such as the
Verna. == Product line ==