Kia Corporation has revealed plans to invest KRW 3 trillion (US$2.2 billion) in a new electric vehicle (EV) plant at its AutoLand complex in Gwangju, South Korea, according to local reports.

The automaker, part of Hyundai Motor Group, expects the facility to be completed by 2029. It forms part of the group’s programme, announced in November 2025, to invest KRW 125 trillion in domestic operations over five years.

What will Kia build in Gwangju?

Kia intends the new facility to become a strategic global production base for software-defined vehicles (SDVs), vehicles whose defining features and functions are software-controlled, and zero-emission vehicles. The stated mandate combines a manufacturing role with an emphasis on electric vehicles and vehicle software.

The announcement does not disclose plant capacity, planned models, an employment target, public support or a production-start date separate from the 2029 completion target. Those omissions limit any calculation of output, cost or jobs.

Kia has therefore supplied a clear destination and technology mix, but not the operating metrics needed to assess the investment’s scale beyond the KRW 3 trillion commitment.

How will Gwangju’s mobility programme work?

Hyundai Motor Group also plans to establish an integrated mobility ecosystem in Gwangju, working with city authorities, Chonnam National University and the Gwangju Institute of Science and Technology. The programme will test purpose-built vehicles (PBVs), meaning vehicles designed around a specific transport job, in local transportation.

The vehicle categories include:

• Autonomous public shuttle buses;
• Last-mile logistics vans, covering the final leg of a delivery;
• Autonomous and remotely driven vehicles for passengers with disabilities.

The range covers passenger transport, logistics and dedicated mobility for disabled passengers. By placing PBVs in local transport settings, the programme connects engineering tests with the operating context required for commercialization.

The announcement gives no technical specifications, deployment timetable or commercial launch schedule for these PBV categories. It identifies what will be tested, not when or on what commercial terms the vehicles will move beyond testing.

How will the 200-vehicle fleet support testing?

The consortium plans to deploy a fleet of 200 autonomous Hyundai Ioniq 5 EVs across Gwangju. The cars will support road testing of the PBVs and train the vehicles’ artificial intelligence (AI) systems.

At 200 cars, the commitment gives the testing effort a defined scale and places multiple autonomous Ioniq 5s into city road use. The fleet serves as a shared technical resource for both PBV development and AI training.

The programme does not state when fleet deployment begins, whether all 200 cars will operate simultaneously or whether they will carry paying passengers. Its stated role remains that of a testing platform rather than a commercial transport launch.

What did Kia’s CEO say?

Kia CEO Song Ho-sung said the partnership aims to “accelerate the commercialization of PBV-based technologies while helping position the Jeonnam-Gwangju Integrated Special City as Korea’s flagship center for future mobility.”

Song linked two objectives: moving PBV technology towards commercial use and establishing Gwangju as a reference point for future mobility. The quotation positions local trials as a bridge between engineering development and wider adoption, not as the programme’s final destination.

What is the strategic logic?

The Gwangju package joins two workstreams that reinforce each other. The plant is intended to provide a global production base, while the city partnership supplies a setting in which to test PBVs and train AI systems for specific transport tasks.

Manufacturing offers a route to production; local testing offers a route to demonstrate operational fit. The arrangement gives Hyundai Motor Group’s five-year domestic investment programme a defined location, partner network and autonomous vehicle fleet.

Kia has disclosed one forward calendar marker: expected plant completion in 2029. Three scale markers define the current plan:

• 2029: The expected completion date for Kia’s new EV plant;
• 200 autonomous Ioniq 5 EVs: The planned road-testing and AI-training fleet;
• Five years: The duration of Hyundai Motor Group’s KRW 125 trillion domestic investment programme.

The strategic direction is clear, but the operating forecast is not. No production volume, unit economics, incentive package or PBV rollout schedule appears in the announcement. Any forecast of capacity, returns or commercial launch timing would therefore go beyond the disclosed plan.