LG to build $25m EV component plant in Michigan

LG Electronics is accelerating expansion of its vehicle component business with the decision to construct a plant for electric vehicle components in the United States, the company announced Wednesday.

Eyeing the rapidly growing US EV market at around 65 percent annual rates by 2020, LG inked about $25 million investment contract with the state of Michigan, which will turn a 215,000-square-meter area in Hazel Park into an electric vehicle plant complex by the first quarter of 2018.

“The latest construction would be a chance to show global automakers that LG can be one of their partners,” said Lee Woo-jong, head of vehicle components at LG. 

Under the contract, LG will start producing battery packs for electric vehicles and gradually expand the assembly lines to motors and other major electric vehicle components.

Around 300 new jobs are expected to be created by the new factory construction.

LG’s vehicle components business, which announced its first official results in 2015, surged 51.3 percent in sales last year, serving as a new growth engine for the South Korean electronics maker struggling with its smartphone business.

GM’s flagship EV Chevrolet Bolt currently uses 11 different parts supplied by LG, including the motor, inverter and battery pack. 

By Song Su-hyun (song@heraldcorp.com)