Kia Invests $649M in Mexico to Produce Its First Electric Vehicle

Secretary of Economy Marcelo Ebrard announced on July 29 a $649 million investment by Kia to produce its first fully electric vehicle in Mexico. The model is the EV3, a subcompact SUV previously manufactured exclusively in South Korea, which will begin assembly at the automaker's plant in Pesquería, Nuevo León, starting August 4.

The investment, scheduled between 2026 and 2028, marks the Korean automaker's first foray into electric vehicle manufacturing on Mexican soil. The Pesquería plant has been operating since 2015 and spent a decade producing the K3 and K4 combustion sedans for 60 export markets. The facility is now being converted into a multi-energy production line that will also include an ethanol-gasoline hybrid model. Horacio Chávez, director general of Kia México, described the move as an adjustment to the existing production line rather than the construction of a new plant. Kia México currently employs 2,600 direct workers, and its supply chain involves more than 85,000 people, according to Expansión.

The project will generate 500 direct jobs this year and an additional 1,500 between 2027 and 2030, according to Forbes México. The EV3 will debut with a 27 percent domestic content share, a figure the Ministry of Economy expects to increase progressively as the local supplier base matures. On the sustainability side, Kia will build a 2-megawatt solar park, with expansion planned to 8 MW by 2030, and a second wastewater treatment plant that will allow the reuse of approximately 1,050 cubic meters per day, equivalent to 70 percent of the operation's total water consumption. The company also announced the development of a national EV charging network along with home and public-space charging solutions.

With a range exceeding 600 kilometers on the WLTP cycle, the EV3 is designed to be Kia's highest-volume electric model globally. It will target the Mexican market, Latin America, and the European Union. The investment is framed within Plan México, the federal strategy to increase domestic content and establish the country as a manufacturing platform for electric mobility.

This article was drafted with artificial intelligence assistance from verified sources and reviewed by a human editor before publication.