Hyundai announced on the 27th that they will halt operations at their Asan plant from December 31st to February 13th next year to conduct facility upgrades for electric vehicle production.
The company stated, “The scheduled date for production resumption is February 14th next year, but it is subject to change depending on internal circumstances.”
The Hyundai Asan plant, with a production capacity of 300,000 units annually, currently employs a mixed production system for three models – Sonata, Grandeur, and IONIQ 6. Previously, only Sonata and Grandeur were manufactured there, but Ioniq 6 was added to the production lineup last year. Starting next year, the Asan plant will produce a total of four models, including the large electric Sports Utility Vehicle (SUV), IONIQ 7.
IONIQ 7 is Hyundai’s third dedicated electric vehicle model, utilizing the E-GMP electric vehicle platform, following the IONIQ 5 and IONIQ 6. It is a large electric SUV with three rows of seats. The design and product concept of the IONIQ 7 were hinted at with the unveiling of the concept car ‘Seven’ at the 2021 LA Motor Show.
Hyundai Asan Plant
Due to the Asan plant’s suspension for approximately six weeks from the year-end, the waiting time for popular models, which had recently started to decrease, is anticipated to increase again. As of the beginning of this month, the delivery waiting time for Sonata Hybrid, which previously required up to 10 months from the purchase contract based on May data, has reduced to 7 months.
The updated waiting times for specific models at the beginning of this month were 4 months for Sonata 1.6 Turbo, 6 weeks for Grandeur 2.5 Gasoline, 3 weeks for Grandeur Hybrid, and 3 weeks for IONIQ 6. Hyundai and its subsidiaries are currently struggling a lot with the demand of hybrid vehicles in South Korea.
Pictures by AutoSpy
