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Hyundai Motor Group has stopped operations in its production plants in the United States. It was reported that the reason for the pause was the automotive chip shortage.
The unavoidable factory suspension
The South Korean automaker made the announcement of the temporary pause on Monday, June 14. It was added that its sister company, Kia, will not be affected by the suspension so its production in Georgia will not be interrupted.
"Hyundai Motor will suspend operations of the company's factory in the U.S. state of Alabama for five days from June 14,” the company said in a statement. “The decision will only affect Hyundai Motor's vehicle assembly lines."
As per The Korea Times, while the production in the Hyundai plant in Alabama is on pause, the company will use the time to carry out maintenance works in the facility. The full operation is expected to resume on June 21.
"Yes, we don't have plans to manufacture vehicles at the company's Alabama plant this year,” an official from the company said. “Hyundai Motor will offer support measures to employees who will be affected by the suspension, and we plan to normalize factory operations after the scheduled summer break."
In any case, it was revealed that the assembly of the Sonata and Elantra cars, as well as the Santa Fe SUV, will be affected by the temporary closure of the facility in Alabama. It was mentioned that Hyundai is also expanding the compound and will be spending over $400 million for a plant for the production of Santa Cruz models, a compact pickup truck.
Hyundai to use the break for maintenance
As said earlier, while Hyundai Motor’s facility in Alabama is on break, routine maintenance will be carried out so as not to waste time. Yonhap News Agency reported that the maintenance work will take place from June 16 to July 11.
Finally, Hyundai Motor has been suspending the operations in its production plants in recent months. Last month, it halted the works in its Indian factory in Tamil Nadu but this case is different because the works were suspended due to the workers’ fear of being infected with COVID-19 at the workplace. Then again, the chip shortage remained the biggest issue as to why carmakers are halting their assembly work worldwide.
