- Hyundai’s new plant in Piracicaba will operate two shifts to produce HB20
- Two more models from the HB family will be added to production next year
- HB20 wins 2013 Brazilian Car of the Year award in Sao Paulo
- Demand for award-winning HB20 explosive, far exceeding initial sales targets
Over 500 Brazilian and Korean dignitaries, company executives and media members attended the ceremony, including Mong-Koo Chung, Chairman of Hyundai Motor; Michel Temer, Vice President of Brazil; Fernando Pimentel, Minister of Development; Geraldo Alckmin, Governor of Sao Paulo state; Barjas Negri, Mayor of Piracicaba; and Bon-woo Koo, Korean ambassador to Brazil. Hyundai, which invested a total of US$700 million in the manufacturing plant, will produce three models exclusively developed for Brazil, one of the world’s top five auto markets. Production of the first model, the HB20 hatchback, 2013 Brazilian Car of the Year, began on Sept. 20.
“We successfully completed the construction of the plant thanks to the great support led by the Brazilian government,” Mr. Chung, Chairman of Hyundai Motor, said during the ceremony today at the plant site. “I hope friendly relations between our two nations are strengthened through the opening of our plant. Hyundai Motor plans to contribute to Brazil’s auto industry and the local community by creating new jobs and actively supporting local parts suppliers.”
Advanced Facilities
The new plant, Hyundai’s seventh manufacturing base outside of Korea, will have a production capacity of 150,000 units a year. The plant, which is located in Piracicaba, 160 km northwest of Sao Paulo city, is built on a 1.39 million square meter site, while the plant has a floor space of 69,000 square meters, featuring complete vehicle production facilities such as stamping, welding, painting, assembly and module lines. Hyundai applied the latest civil engineering skills to the construction of the plant, which took 25 months to build.
The new plant incorporates key advanced technologies to efficiently produce high-quality vehicles: HMB is Hyundai’s first overseas plant to adopt a “one-kit” supply system, where a full kit containing all the parts necessary to build a whole model moves along with the vehicle on the assembly line. This prevents any errors in the assembly process. Furthermore, the entire welding process is fully automated, using about 100 robots.
“When compared to traditional assembly lines, the advantages of this process are in the easy handling of the materials, lower presence of industrial vehicles in the production line and debugging. The assembly line team member receives the correct part – both in terms of specification and quantity – right at their work station,” said Eugênio Cesare, HMB’s Production General Manager.
Strong Sales, New Jobs
The plant will produce the HB family of cars, which consist of the hatchback HB20, which won the 2013 Brazilian Car of the Year award on Nov. 7; the crossover HB20X, unveiled at the 2012 Sao Paulo International Motor Show; and a sedan version, all dedicated to the local market.
Initial market response to the HB20, which officially began sales in October, has been explosive, far exceeding this year’s production capacity of 26,000 units. Together with Hyundai’s other imported models, the company’s annual sales for this year is expected to reach 85,000 units. The plant will reach its full production capacity of 150,000 units next year, with total Brazil sales expected to reach 200,000 units.
Hyundai set up a dedicated dealer network for the HB family, to maximize customers’ convenience. The automaker has opened about 120 exclusive dealerships across Brazil, with plans to expand to 180 by this year and 200 by the end of 2013.
Hyundai’s Piracicaba plant will initially employ 1,800 workers, reaching 2,000 by 2013. Hyundai’s eight partners will also employ 3,000 workers, directly creating a total of 5,000 jobs. Additionally, the plant will generate 20,000 indirect jobs in the community, local officials estimate.
Good Corporate Citizen
Hyundai enters the Brazilian market not only with a vision to maximize customer satisfaction through sales, but with the vision to be a good corporate citizen. Starting in 2010, when the company held its groundbreaking ceremony for the plant, Hyundai brought some of its global corporate social responsibility projects to the country to impact, on several levels, children and young adults through various educational and cultural exchanges.
One of the projects HMB proudly introduced locally is the “Happy Move Global Youth Volunteers Program.” Twice a year, the Hyundai Motor Group selects 500 Korean university students to carry out a variety of volunteer work in all parts of the world. So far, 440 students have visited Brazil to build homes for the poor and to exchange cultural and social experiences. Under this project, the Hyundai Motor Group has also made donations of approximately US$540,000 to Brazilian charity institutions such as Habitat for Humanity Brazil.
Science Without Borders
Hyundai Motor also actively supports the Brazilian government’s educational scholarship program, Science Without Borders. This project is open to undergraduate to post-graduate students mainly in the areas of engineering, aerospace technology, computing, pharmacology and prevention of natural disasters. Selected students are eligible to attend South Korean universities and are given opportunities to do internships throughout Hyundai Motor and its affiliate companies and later, apply for full-time positions.
Through the Science Without Borders project, the Brazilian government plans to send their 100,000 future engineers abroad to receive training and gain global competitiveness. This was the first year this project was initiated and as of this summer, 14 students were sent to South Korea, while five completed internships within the Hyundai Motor Group. From this winter, Hyundai will expand internship opportunities to about 60 students for summer and winter vacations, respectively. Hyundai will also make a donation of US$1.5 million over a three year-period to further support this project.
Edmundo Fujita, Brazil’s Ambassador to South Korea, believes that “Hyundai Motor is actively investing in the future generation and in countries that are focused on this agenda. Based on this commitment, the Science without Borders Program in South Korea is a model example of the cooperation that can be achieved between governments and private companies.”
Football
Graduate and post-graduate university students are not the only ones on HMB’s radar: In Piracicaba, the automaker has signed a partnership with the City Hall, through the Secretaries of Education and Sports, and with the local soccer team “XV de Piracicaba” to encourage sports activities among children.
This project, called the “Hyundai Youth Football Clinic,” offers free football classes to eight-to-10-year-old children attending public schools. The aim is to help nurture confidence and socializing skills among children through sports. Hyundai, which is an official sponsor of FIFA, believes in the changes sports can bring to the world.
