Photographie : The Korean Car Blog
Kia’s Number 3 plant in Hwaseong was hit by fire. On August 28, 2023, a fire broke out inside the site. There were no casualties, but according to the Korean Car Blog, the operation of the paint lines has been suspended. Eight robots are down. No EV6 will leave the factory for at least a week.
A fire broke out at a Kia factory in Hwaseong
Local media reports that the Kia plant in Hwaseong will be ” closed for at least a week to repair the damage, which should lead to a production stoppage “. Factory management has set the date for resuming production as September 7. The fire broke out on August 28 around 7:40 p.m. The plant’s automatic fire extinguisher kept the fire under control until the firefighters arrived. The fire was reportedly completely extinguished around 9:30 p.m.
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In Hwaseong, all activity at Factory 3 has been suspended. There’s no point in rotating the assembly lines if the paint lines can’t keep up. The factory’s occupational safety and health committee decided to grant a 9-day rest period to the factory employees. During this time, an investigation and a thorough inspection of the facilities will be carried out by external experts. Objective: to understand the cause of the fire and prevent it from happening again.
EV6 production temporarily halted
The temporary closure of the factory is likely to have a significant impact on the production of the EV6, as well as the K5 and K8 models. The manufacturer has already indicated that delivery delays will be ” probably due to the temporary shutdown of the factory “. Currently, it takes about a month from ordering a new car to delivering it for Korean buyers. By the way, the K8 is one of the brand’s most popular models. It has sold 28,000 copies since the beginning of the year.
Hwaseong Plants 1 and 2, which produce K3, Niro, K7, Sorento and Mohave, are operating normally. At the Hwaseong site, mass production of electric vehicles is expected to begin by the end of 2025. The recently unveiled EV5 model will surely be manufactured there, as will the large SUV EV9, a 7-seater model that inaugurates the new 99.8 kWh battery on the e-GMP platform.
