Kia motors (and its sister Hyundai) is one of the car brands that highest number of sales is registering en los Estados Unidos. Its growth has been phenomenal in recent years and with the opening of its factory in Pesquería (Nuevo León, Mexico) it seemed that everything was going to get better. However the arrival of Donald Trump to the United States government could make the good go that the South Korean firm carries in the American country it looks slowed down suddenly.
Today Kia only makes the Forte in Mexico, but its production rate is very high since this year they hope to increase it to 250.000 units. The problem comes in the future addition of models to the assembly lines of this new plant. The reason is that the firm had anticipated that Fishery would become one of its most important production centers in the world. For this reason, if the products manufactured there have the United States as their main market, things change, and even more so if the 20 percent tariffs are applied to products manufactured in the Aztec country.
In an attempt to counter Trump's threats, those responsible for Kia have reported that they are making an emergency plan. Han Chun-soo, Kia's financial director, has communicated that the uncertainty about Mexico and the United States is very great and that the Firms that operate between the two countries could be severely damaged if the economic and diplomatic situation is not treated with due delicacy.
La main line of action who would pick up this emergency plan would go through the entrance or consolidation in markets where they are not present. With this they could distribute the production of their Mexican factory to other countries that do not have that tax burden and therefore keep their prices at bay. In addition, this plan would also have another line and it is nothing more than the range expansion of the firm's products towards the small SUV segment; that is, the arrival of the new Kia Rio SUV that will hit the market shortly.
Source – Kia Motors