Thousands of Hyundai Vehicles Stuck in U.S. Ports

While automakers suspended their car manufacturing operations in North America in late March, South Korea began to recover from a bad February resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic.

Hyundai made the gamble to ramp up production at its Ulsan plant to as much as 98 percent of capacity to serve not only its domestic market but also the U.S., which proved to be a big mistake. The virus hit our continent harder than expected and consumer demand fell drastically.

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According to numbers posted by Reuters, the Korean manufactuer shipped 33,990 vehicles to the U.S. in March, which is incredibly an increase of 4.3 percent from the same month a year ago.

Now, a large portion of them are still stuck in U.S. ports as dealers don’t need to fill their stocks due to the slumping sales. In Donald’s land, Hyundai suffered a drop of 43 percent in March.

The Ulsan plant builds the Accent, Tucson and Santa Fe, among other products. The company recently told analysts that production could fall to as much as 70 percent of capacity in April.

As for the Montgomery, Alabama assembly plant, home to the Elantra and Sonata, it remains idled at least until May 1.