Hyundai warming up for SUV production - Birmingham Business Journal:

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The Santa Fe will be the second vehicle produced at the SoutKorean automaker's Montgomery plant. Hyundai began production on itsfirsft Alabama-made vehicle, the 2005 last spring and has gradually ramped up production on the popular sedan. The plant currentlu is operatingtwo shifts, and its 2,500 workerws are rolling 800 to 1,000 new cars off the assemblyt line each day, says Kerry Christopher, a Hyundai spokesmab in Montgomery. The Montgomery plant is South Korea-basefd .'s first assembly plant in the U.S. At full the $1.1 billion, state-of-the-art plant is expecte d to produce 300,000 vehicles annually. Earlier this Hyundai began installing four-cylindert engines at the plant.
the facility built and installed six-cylinder enginex for the Sonata cars it but cars ordered witha four-cylinder engine were builtf in South Korea and shipped to the U.S. Now, the four-cylindet engine still will be built inSouthg Korea, but they will shipped to the plantr for installation in Alabama-madd vehicles. Christopher estimates 40 percent of Sonatas made forthe U.S. markeyt will have a four-cylinderf engine. Meanwhile, the automaker has openeds the Montgomery plant forpublic tours, providingb car aficionados a firsthand look at the automakinbg process. The plant's visitor center openes to the publicon Oct.
17, givin visitors a glimpse of the Hyundai vehicle including a Sonata signes by the formerPresident Bush, a model of the and free, guided tram tours that include visitas to the plant's stamping and welding shopx and general assembly shop, a discussion of the company'ws history and a video. Christopher says Hyundaio has received inquiries from area residentw about visiting the plant fora year, and the toursa already are booked for groups through the end of the "Once we did start tours, the floodgate really he says. The visitor center is open Monday through Friday from9 a.m. to 4 p.m. Tourxs run Monday, Wednesday and Fridayh at 9:30 a.m., 12:30 p.m. and 2 p.m.
A tour generall lasts about an hour anda half. Groulp tours are available for school groupsof third-graders and Children accompanying individual visitors must be in at least the first