Alabama auto plant exports only 14 vehicles in June as Trump’s 25% tariff hits industry
Hyundai’s Montgomery plant has produced just 14 vehicles this month for export to other countries, its lowest number since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic when production was temporarily halted.
South Korean news agency Yonhap reported the number, which shows the effects of the company’s prioritizing U.S. sales following the Trump Administration’s imposing 25% tariffs on all vehicles imported into the U.S. this year.
Attempts to reach the Montgomery plant for comment were not immediately successful.
The plant is still continuing to produce the same number of vehicles each month, according to numbers provided by Hyundai.
Through the first five months of the year, Hyundai produced 155,800 vehicles in six models – the Tuscon, Santa Fe hybrid, Santa Fe, Santa Cruz, GV70 EV and GV70.
Production totals for each month remained consistent, ranging from 27,500 in January to 32,400 in May. The overwhelming majority of those vehicles were meant for the U.S. market, which includes Puerto Rico and Guam.
But the effect of tariffs can be seen particularly in monthly totals produced for the Tuscon SUV. In March, 2,490 were produced for the Canadian market, with 2,311 in April. But in May, the plant only turned out 105 for Canada.
For the Santa Fe SUV, the plant went from 1,356 produced for Canada in April to a total of 28 in May.
Last year, according to Yonhap, Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama exported a total of 22,600 vehicles.
Exported vehicles produced in May plummeted by 45% to 1,303 units, from 2,386 units just a year earlier.
But the company has made several moves in relation to the tariffs.
In April, Hyundai shifted some production of its Tucson SUVs to the Montgomery plant from its affiliate Kia Corp.’s Mexico plant.
Those effects can also be seen in production numbers in Mexico. Hyundai shipped about 2,100 units of the Tucson from there in February. That number plummeted to 522 in March and has stayed at zero since April.
The company was also reportedly moving production of Canada-bound cars, which had been made in the U.S., to the Mexico plant.