Kia Considering Factory in South

Kia Motors Corp. wants to join the flood of Asian and European carmakers operating U.S. manufacturing plants in the South.

The South Korean company, an affiliate of Hyundai Motor Co., is looking at sites in Mississippi and Kentucky, among others, for its first North American factory.

Mississippi, home to a Nissan Motor Co. assembly plant, would be the favored location, said Kia spokesman Michael Choo. The state is next door to Alabama, where Hyundai opened a $1.1- billion car and truck plant in May, and a number of parts suppliers are in the two states.

Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour spoke with Hyundai executives about locating a Kia plant in his state while on a trade visit to South Korea this week, according to reports in the South Korean press.

Barbour and Hyundai executives reportedly discussed an incentive package that could match the $250 million in infrastructure improvements and job training assistance that Alabama provided to Hyundai.

Kia’s U.S. marketing, sales and service unit is in Irvine.