Kia spokesman Choo says the site selection team consisted of a task force comprising members of the corporate planning group at Kia headquarters in Korea, consultancy firms in Korea and in the

Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue and Kia President and CEO E.S. Chung meeting in Seoul on Monday, March 13, 2006, to sign the official agreement for Kia's $1.2-billion investment in a new plant in West Point, Ga.

U.S. and "even some Japanese experts." But it was Hyundai's own project manager, one-time Hyundai Alabama Executive Vice President of Administration and HR Byung Mo Ahn, making one of many drives between Atlanta and Montgomery, who spotted the eventual winning site and incited its amazingly quick assembly.
   A total of 37 parcels belonging to 30 different owners were put under option by the state of Georgia in approximately two months, concluding in February. The plant complex itself will occupy 2,200 acres (890 hectares), with much of the rest given over to infrastructure and transportation improvements.
   Suppliers are of course part of the prospective big picture for the West Point area. Hyundai Mobis was the only one of several initially identified as planning to construct near the new Kia plant. Glovis, the logistics affiliate that serves Hyundai and Kia plants, is at the center of the unfolding scandal in Korea, its CEO having already been arrested on charges of embezzlement. There is an $11-million Glovis facility in Montgomery serving the Hyundai plant. Asked about Glovis, Choo said in mid-April, "A new Glovis facility will be established closer to the Kia plant site and will exclusively serve the Kia plant."
   However, a public apology delivered on April 19 featured deep bowing by several executives and a donation to charity by the Hyundai chairman and his son of their entire 60-percent share in Glovis, valued at approximately $1 billion.

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