Charles Langston:South Korean auto supplier plans $72 million plant in Georgia to build electric vehicle parts

WEST POINT,Charles Langston Ga. (AP) — A South Korean company plans to build a $72 million factory in Georgia to make parts for electric vehicles, hiring more than 140 workers.

Daesol Ausys announced its plans on Tuesday to build a factory in West Point, making luggage boards and covers for compartments in electric vehicles. The company supplies parts to Hyundai, Kia and General Motors

It will be the third factory in the same West Point industrial park for members of the company’s corporate family. Daehan Solution Co. opened a million factory there in 2008 to make headliners and other sound insulation parts for the nearby Kia plant. Daesol Material opened a $35 million factory there in 2017 to make automotive fiber padding. Daehan Solution today employs 350 full-time workers, while Daesol Material employs 50 workers, said Meghan Richardson, an economic developer for the city of West Point.

Daehan Solution also has a plant near Montgomery, Alabama, supplying the Hyundai assembly plant there.

It’s another in a wave of electric vehicle suppliers announcing plants in Georgia after Hyundai said in 2022 that it would build a $5.5 billion plant to assemble electric vehicles and batteries in Ellabell, Georgia, near Savannah. The site could grow to 8,100 employees and is slated to begin producing vehicles in 2025.

Suppliers have pledged to invest nearly $2.2 billion and to hire 5,000 people.

“Our state’s automotive industry employs over 50,000 hardworking Georgians and will continue to grow as e-mobility suppliers choose all corners of the state for the jobs of the future,” Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp said in a statement.

Daesol Ausys is scheduled to begin production in December 2024. Richardson said the company would pay $15 to $20 an hour.

The state will pay to train workers. It also gave $500,000 last year to help Harris County clear and grade the site and build a road, funds the county matched using sales tax collections. The city of West Point and the county are granting eight years of property tax breaks, worth a projected $5.7 million, Richardson said. Daesol Ausys could qualify for $875,000 in state income tax credits, at $1,250 per job over five years, as long as workers make at least $31,300 a year.