Published : Aug. 29, 2017 - 18:13
Hyundai Motor, South Korea’s largest carmaker, has suspended the operations of its manufacturing plants in China, the carmaker said Tuesday.
The carmaker’s office in China, Beijing Hyundai, has decided to halt its three plants in the Chinese capital and a fourth facility in Changzhou.
(Yonhap)
The decision came as local partners are declining to supply auto parts to Hyundai in a show of complaint over delayed payments for their products.
Beijing Hyundai has failed to pay around 18.9 billion won ($16.8 million) to local suppliers, according to reports.
The Chinese office of the automaker is responsible for the payment, not its head office in Seoul. The branch in China was reportedly having financial troubles due to plummeting sales there over growing anti-Korean sentiment as well as speculation of Beijing taking retaliatory actions against South Korean companies operating in the country.
Hyundai recently completed the construction of its fifth factory in Chongqing, which has not begun operation yet. This means that all of Hyundai’s manufacturing operations in China are currently on hold.
By Cho Chung-un (
christory@heraldcorp.com)