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Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia
(KMMG) is located in the town of West
Point. The $1-billion plant opened
in 2009. Specifcally, it started mass
production on November 16. The frst
vehicle: a Sorento midsize crossover.
In 2012 KMMG had an additional
investment of $100-million, which
brought the annual capacity of the
plant to 360,000 units. In addition to
the Sorento, they build the Optima
midsize sedan in West Point.
Two points about this:
• They are productive at KMMG
• The Sorento is popular
These are predicated on the simple fact
that on July 11, 2013, they built the
millionth vehicle in the plant. It was a
2014 Sorento SXL.
And they've been building Sorentos (and
Optimas) there with consistency since.
Michael Sprague, executive vice
president of Sales & Marketing for Kia
Motors America, points out that Kia
has been making massive investments
in the U.S. In addition to the factory,
they've established a proving grounds
u The 2013 Kia Cross GT concept gave
rise to the design for the 2016 Sorento.
(No, the real vehicle doesn't have the
concept's suicide doors.)
p Not only is there an all-new exterior design for the 2016 Sorento, but the inside was
completely redone, as well. There are soft-touch materials all around and thoughtfully
located knobs, buttons and screens. One interesting technology that is available is part
of the Harmon Infnity sound system is "Clari-Fi." This is based on an algorithm that
reconstructs audio details from music that has been digitally compressed, so there is
greater richness to the sound.
in California City, CA, and a new
headquarters and new design center
in Irvine, CA. This puts the investment
overall to >$1.4-billion since 2002.
In August 2014, Kia announced
that they will be investing another
$1-billion to build a second production
facility, this one in Mexico.
The point of all this is that they're
serious about what they are doing. And
the Sorento is a serious part of their
plans.