Hyundai is seeking to sell an idle plant site in China to a local district government, according to a report by the Korean news agency Yonhap.
The report said Hyundai Motor plans to sell the site of the No. 1 Beijing plant, which has been suspended since April 2019, to the Shunyi administrative district. Yonhap cited an anonymous source familiar with the matter. The move could follow an assessment by Hyundai of manufacturing capacity in the country as it tries to revive interest in its products. The luxury Genesis brand is also launching in China this year.
The report noted the No. 1 Beijing plant’s suspension following much slower sales for the Hyundai brand amid political tensions in 2017 between Beijing and Seoul over the planned deployment of a missile defence system in South Korea.
Yonhap said Hyundai didn’t confirm the plant’s sale plan. Hyundai has four other plants in China that are still in operation, the report notes.