Slovakia to have Hyundai Motors plant

Slovakia to have Hyundai Motors plant

SEOUL: Kia Motors Corp., controlled by South Korean auto giant Hyundai Motor, has made a tentative decision to build a 1.5 billion-dollar factory in Slovakia, rather than in Poland, a news report said on Friday.

Slovakia is offering more favorable terms, such as wages 10-20 percent lower, than Poland, the Seoul-based Mail Business Newspaper reported, citing an unnamed Hyundai Motor official.

Kia Motors, which has "tentatively" opted for Slovakia, plans to make a final choice by the end of February and announce it at the Geneva Motor Show in early March, the report added.

Slovakia and Poland have been bidding for the 1.5-billion- dollar factory investment by Hyundai Motor, South Korea's biggest automaker.

Officials at Kia Motors refused to confirm the news report.

"All we can confirm is that nothing has been decided," Kang Hyun-Kun, a Kia official, said.

The Hyundai Motor factory is expected to produce 300,000 cars annually when it comes on stream in 2007. Construction of the plant would begin in 2005. -- AFP