Georgia Grants Hyundai $1.8B Incentive

The state of Georgia and local governments are giving $1.8 billion in tax breaks and other incentives to Hyundai Motor Group in exchange for the automaker building its first US plant dedicated to electric vehicles near Savannah, according to the signed agreement disclosed Friday, July 22, 2022, Russ Bynum reported for the Associated Press (AP).

Photo Insert: Hyundai executives and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp celebrated the agreement with a champagne toast in May at the project's enormous 2,900-acre (1,170 hectare) site in Bryan County, west of Savannah.

Hyundai will invest $5.5 billion in its Georgia plant and hire 8,100 workers as part of the agreement. It is the state's greatest economic development deal in history, and it comes only months after Georgia concluded another major deal with electric vehicle manufacturer Rivian to build a factory in the state.

“Not only do these generational projects solidify our spot at the vanguard of the EV transition, but they also ensure that thousands of Georgians across the state will benefit from the jobs of the future,” said Pat Wilson, the state's economic development commissioner, in a statement.

Hyundai executives and Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp celebrated the agreement with a champagne toast in May at the project's enormous 2,900-acre (1,170 hectare) site in Bryan County, west of Savannah.

Hyundai intends to begin building the facility next year and produce up to 300,000 automobiles per year by 2025. The new factory will also manufacture automobile batteries.

The deal revealed on Friday is worth approximately $300 million more than the incentives offered to Rivian. It comes to nearly $228,000 every job produced in Georgia and four counties in the Savannah area.

Georgia officials maintain that the investment is worthwhile. Hyundai's payroll at the new plant is estimated to exceed $4.7 billion over the next ten years, according to Wilson. Thousands of new employment in the state are projected to be created by parts suppliers.

According to Greg LeRoy, executive director of Good Jobs First, a group skeptical of private-sector subsidies, the $1.8 billion in incentives is easily the highest subsidy package a US state has ever committed for an automobile plant.

"That's inherently super-risky," LeRoy explained, “because you’re betting a huge amount on one company and one facility.”

Local governments are granting Hyundai more than $472 million in property tax breaks, despite the fact that Hyundai will pay more than $357 million in lieu of taxes over a 26-year period beginning in 2023.

WEEKLY FEATURE : MVP Group Keeps Lights On During Pandemic