Hyundai Motor resumes production of partial models

Hyundai Motor has resumed the production of partial models, whose manufacturing has been suspended at South Korean plants as a result of the impact from the Wuhan coronavirus. The automaker will return to its normal production by next Monday, except for the manufacturing lines for buses and trucks, adding auto parts urgently produced by partners at their plants in the country.

Hyundai Motor began the operation of its Ulsan plant 2, which is responsible for manufacturing popular SUV model Palisade and Genesis GV80, from Tuesday morning as the supply of the wiring harness resumed from Monday after causing the recent suspension.

Earlier from Feb. 4, the South Korean automaker gradually suspended the operation of its south Korean plants as the Chinese plants of its wiring harness partners, such as Kyungshin and Yura Corporation, had stopped operation until Sunday due to the extension of the Lunar New Year holiday.

The import of the wiring harness resumed from Monday via ports in Incheon and Pyeongtaek and the Incheon International Airport. The Chinese authorities have allowed the operation of plants located in Shandong province where the impact from the new coronavirus is less significant. As not all plants in China have resumed the production of the wiring harness, however, production reduction to a certain degree cannot be avoided. “It is hard to make predictions as each region in China applies variable production resumption policies,” said a partner company of Hyundai Motor.


Hyung-Seok Seo skytree08@donga.com