KIA Motors has started auto production at its Pesqueria plant in the state of Nuevo Leon, the automaker said this week. The plant started up a year and seven months after KIA broke the ground in Mexico.
According to the Korean automaker, the first model to be produced in 2016 at the plant will be 100,000 units of the KIA Forte. The facility is expected to produce 300,000 autos per year when full capacity is reached.
KIA expects 80 percent of its auto output to be destined for the export market, including to the US and other countries.
"Starting production as planned wasn’t easy, we faced obstacles like torrential rains, stronger than any seen in 30 years in Monterrey, and these difficulties revealed a lack of industrial infrastructure in the area," said Seong Bae-Kim, president of KIA Mexico.