Hyundai Motor Company CEO Jose Munoz appeared Wednesday on “The Claman Countdown” where he talked about Hyundai Motor Group’s newly-announced massive investment in the U.S.
His appearance on the show came the same day the automaker marked the official grand opening for its Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America (HMGMA) near Savannah, Georgia and just days after Hyundai revealed it will put $21 million over the next few years toward boosting manufacturing in the U.S.
“We are opening the so-called HMGMA Metaplant America which is comprised of $12.6 billion dollars. It’s one assembly plant with a capacity of 300,000 that I announced today is going to get to as much as 500,000 and two battery plants,” he told host Liz Claman. “And as you pointed out, right before starting the interview, our executive chair, Mr. Chung, announced before the president of the United States, President Trump, that we are planning to invest $21 billion between now and 2028 in a number of mega projects, including the new Electric Arc Furnace plant in Louisiana.”
The new $21 million investment that Hyundai unveiled Monday will include $9 billion for bring its annual U.S. production capacity to 1.2 million vehicles, $6 billion for “enhancing parts localization and logistics” and $6 billion towards more “collaboration in future industries” like autonomous driving and robotics and for energy infrastructure, according to the company.
HYUNDAI TO INVEST $20B IN US MANUFACTURING
Munoz’s appearance on “The Claman Countdown” also came before President Donald Trump said later Wednesday he would put a new tariff on imported vehicles.
The Hyundai Motor Company CEO told Claman that the company “took a big decision to invest in America” during the prior Trump administration.
“America is for us the largest market, and we then decided to make the largest investment in the world with this $12.6 billion,” he said. “There is nothing better to address potential tariffs than localizing our production in America, bringing jobs.”
“Not many know that we are really a large corporation that not only produces cars, but steel and many other things,” Munoz continued. “And with all these new investments that we announced on Monday, we’re bringing in total about 670,000 jobs, direct and indirect. This is massive.”
He said the vehicles that Hyundai will manufacture at its Savannah, Georgia plant “probably they will have to pay no tariffs.”
PRESIDENT TRUMP ANNOUNCES NEW AUTO TARIFFS
The automaker is the latest among a growing number of companies announcing plans to increase investment in the U.S. under the Trump administration, which has been using tariffs to encourage companies to bring manufacturing back to American soil and reduce reliance on foreign goods.
Trump has implemented a slew of tariffs since taking office, including 20% levies on goods imported into the U.S. from China. Mexico and Canada were also hit with tariffs, but Trump later introduced exemptions for those two countries on goods under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement until April.
Imports of steel and aluminum have also become subject to new tariffs.
Daniella Genovese contributed to this report.
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