On February 7th, the Korean automaker, KIA, inked an investment expansion agreement with the municipal government of Yancheng and Jiangsu Yueda Group. KIA will form a new joint venture with Yueda.

Signing ceremony; photo credit: KIA

The two parties aim to raise $900 million for the new joint venture and fast-tracking its auto sales and production capacity utilization through expanding investments, introducing new models, developing new energy vehicles, and establishing export bases. The name of the new joint venture will be revealed to the public in April.

In the meantime, the municipal government of Yancheng will support KIA in its Chinese market expansion and help the automaker in its Yancheng factory export trade, as the automaker has helped drive the development of local auto parts industry. Since KIA entered the Chinese market in 2002, it has sold nearly 6 million vehicles.  

According to KIA, the company intends to promote its global strategic models and new energy models primarily. The new models coming this year will be equipped with massive safety and new technology features to improve product competitiveness, completing its global strategic lineup with the existing Carnival and the Sportage Ace.

From 2023 to 2027, the automaker will debut new electric models each year, starting from the latest battery-electric EV6, forming a six-model EV lineup.