Kia and Hyundai to build EVs in Mexico for IRA tax credit eligibility
The Governor of New Nuevo León, Mexico, announced a new (potential billion-dollar) investment from Kia to expand its plant in the region and produce two EVs together with Hyundai. The move comes as the two automakers look to ensure EV models qualify for the IRA tax credit.
After becoming the third largest automaker globally last year, The Hyundai Motor Group, including Kia and Genesis, looks to keep the ball rolling in the new EV era.
Both Hyundai and Kia brands got off to a hot start by releasing the IONIQ 5 and EV6 EV models, based on the auto group’s dedicated E-GMP electric vehicle platform.
With several new releases from all brands under the Hyundai umbrella, including the IONIQ 6, Kona Electic, Kia EV9, and Genesis GV70, the automaker plans to become a top three global EV producer by 2030.
However, after the Inflation Reduction Act’s (IRA) standards set in for new EVs to qualify for the $7,500 tax credit, many Kia and Hyundai models have become ineligible.
Despite breaking ground on its first dedicated EV plant in the US in October, that facility isn’t expected to become operational until 2025.
With North America being Hyundai’s single largest market, representing over a fifth of sales last year, Hyundai is looking for ways to ensure its EVs will qualify for the tax credit to secure its market.
Kia, Hyundai to build EVs in Mexico for IRA tax credit
The Governor of New Nuevo León, Mexico, Samuel Garcia, revealed Kia’s plans on his Twitter this week, initially saying Kia once again bets on Nuevo Leon with a “billion dollar investment to expand its plant and produce two Kia car models” later editing out the billion.
Another retweet from Garcia read, “#Kia announces billion dollar investment to install another plant in #NuevoLeon where it will produce two new electric models in conjunction with Hyundai.”
A translation of Garcia’s own tweet reads, “More good news! Nuevo León consolidates as the ELECTROMOBILITY HUB: KIA once again bets on Nuevo León with an investment to expand its plant and produce two KIA car models.”
From Garcia’s post, it could just be an expansion on the automaker’s existing 400,000-vehicle capacity plant in the area, which began operations in 2016.
According to the images Garcia posted on his account, one of the two electric vehicles could be the new flagship EV9. However, Kia has already said the electric SUV will be built in West Point, Georgia, starting next year as the brand’s first EV assembled in the US.
With the new planned investment, Garcia says, “We will be the state that produces the most electric car models: the Tesla model, the KIA model, and the Navistar electric truck.”
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Paris’ bike-share system, Vélib has long been considered one of the shining success stories of urban micromobility. With a massive fleet of over 20,000 pedal and electric-assist bicycles around Paris, the service has helped millions of residents and tourists get around the City of Light without needing a car or scooter. But lately, a growing problem is threatening to knock the wheels off this urban mobility marvel: theft and joyriding.
According to city officials and the service operator, more than 600 Vélib bikes are now going missing every single week. That’s over 30 bikes a day simply vanishing from the system – some stolen outright, others taken on “joy rides” and never returned.
“At the moment we’re missing 3,000 bikes,” explained Sylvain Raifaud, head of the Agemob company that currently operates the Velib system. That’s nearly 15% of over 20,000 Vélib bikes across Paris.
The sticky-fingered culprits aren’t necessarily professional thieves or organized crime rings. Instead, they’re often regular users who treat the shared bikes like disposable toys.
The city estimates that many people have figured out how to pry the bikes out of the system’s parking docks, unlocking one for a casual cruise and then ditching it somewhere far from a docking station.
Once pried free, the bikes are technically usable for the next 24 hours until their automatic locking feature kicks in. At that point, the bikes are often simply abandoned. Some end up in alleyways. Others get tossed in rivers. A few just disappear completely.
And since the bikes are intended to be parked at their many docking stations around the city, they don’t have GPS chips, further complicating recovery of “liberated” bikes.
The issue started small but has grown into more than an inconvenience – it’s beginning to undermine the entire purpose of the service. With bikes going missing at such a high rate, many Vélib docking stations are left empty, especially during rush hours.
Riders looking for a quick commute or a convenient hop across town are increasingly finding themselves without available bikes, or having to walk long distances to find a functioning one.
That kind of unreliability chips away at user confidence and threatens to drive potential riders back into cars, cabs, or other less sustainable forms of transport at a time when Paris has already made great strides to dramatically reduce car usage in the city.
The losses are financially painful, too. Replacing stolen or vandalized bikes isn’t cheap, and the resources spent on tracking down missing equipment or reinforcing anti-theft measures are stretching thin. Vélib has faced theft and vandalism issues before, especially during its early years, but this latest surge has officials sounding the alarm with renewed urgency.
Officials acknowledge that there’s no easy fix. Paris, like many cities with bike-share systems, walks a fine line between accessibility and accountability. Part of what makes Vélib so successful is its ease of use and widespread availability. But those same features make it vulnerable to misuse – especially when enforcement is limited and the consequences for abuse are minimal.
The timing of the problem is especially unfortunate. In recent years, Paris has seen impressive results in reducing car traffic, expanding bike lanes, and promoting cycling as a key part of its sustainable transport strategy. Vélib is a cornerstone of that plan. But if the system becomes too unreliable, it risks losing the very people it was designed to serve.
Meanwhile, as Parisians increasingly find themselves staring at empty docks, the challenge for the city and Vélib will be to restore confidence in the system without making it harder to use. That means striking the right balance between freedom and responsibility, between open access and protection against abuse.
In a city where cycling is supposed to be the future of mobility, losing thousands of bikes to joyriders and sticky fingers isn’t just frustrating; it’s unsustainable.
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