The world-renowned automotive company hosted a ceremony where its CEO and President Kyung Soo Lee, gathered with over 150 attendees including Baja California State Governor, Tijuana´s Mayor Jorge Astiazarán, and the Ambassador of Korean Republic in Mexico Mr. Chun BeeHo.
In October, the company started the construction of its $90-million production plant that will manufacture and assemble more than 150 trailer containers per day. The plant is located on 120 hectares and will create more than 2,000 jobs in the state. Besides the direct impact in the state´s economy driven by the job creation, the establishment of the plant also could mean the attraction of 8 new certified suppliers joining Baja California´s automotive suppliers chain.
During his speech Mr. Kyung Soo Lee mentioned Baja California as the only state in Mexico with presence of Hyundai Translead operations. The company established its first operation in Tijuana in 1995 and now runs three plants in the city, manufacturing steel, domestic freight containers and chassis. Combined, the four plants will create around 8,800 jobs in the state. The firm currently serves clients such as Amazon,UPS, Coca Cola, Pepsi, WalMart, Dart, Ryder among others.
Francisco Vega, governor of Baja California, noted that there are now more than 46 Korean firms established in the state. In the last two years Governor Vega has traveled to Asia leading the negotiations for this major project, and facilitating federal and state incentives to support its successful conclusion.
More than 55 automotive firms operate in Baja California, including the OEMs Kenworth and Toyota. The latter recently announced it will expand its production capacity in Baja to meet increasing demand for its Tacoma line. Toyota also announced the expansión of its Tijuana assembly plant in order to increase output of its Tacoma by 60,000 units annually , to a total of 160,000 units per year by early 2018.
