The company plans to increase the plant's production capacity from the current 130,000 units/yr, once the acquisition is completed, HMIL said in a press release on 16 August. The planned increase is in line with the company's plans to eventually raise its Indian production capacity to 1mn units/yr from the present 820,000 units/yr, without providing a timeline. The company plans to leverage the additional capacity to launch more electric vehicles in India, it said.
HMIL will also acquire identified assets at the Talegaon plant, with manufacturing targeted to begin in 2025. The agreement includes acquisition, assignment of land and buildings, as well as some machinery and manufacturing equipment, HMIL said. The completion of the agreement is subject to approvals from stakeholders and regulatory authorities.
HMIL did not disclose the precise investment amount in the Talegaon plant, but said it intends to make "phased investments for the purpose of upgrading the existing infrastructure and manufacturing equipment", which will bring the plant to Hyundai's global standards.
The company signed an initial agreement with the Tamil Nadu state government earlier this year to invest 200bn rupees ($2.41bn) to expand capacity and establish an electric vehicle ecosystem, HMIL managing director and chief executive Unsoo Kim said.
The Indian government plans for EVs to account for 30pc of domestic automobile sales by 2030.
Chinese automotive manufacturer Great Wall Motor signed an equity acquisition agreement with General Motors in January 2020 to acquire the Talegaon plant, but the deal likely did not conclude, because of unspecified reasons.
GM had in 2017 announced that it would no longer sell vehicles domestically in India, and will instead focus its Talegaon manufacturing operations on the export markets of Mexico and Central and South America.
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