Kia EV6 production halted after factory fire – report

A major fire in the paint shop of a Kia factory has forced the production of the EV6 electric car to be suspended for more than a week.

The aftermath of a fire at the Kia EV6 factory. Credit: The Korean Car Blog.

One of Kia’s eight South Korean factories will remain closed until the second week of September due to a fire.

The Kia plant is responsible for manufacturing the electric EV6, though it’s understood the fire was caused by a spark from the cabling of a robot in the paint shop, Yonhap News Agency reports.

The facility’s automatic fire suppression system came into effect, before Kia’s own fire brigade arrived at the scene and extinguished the fire after 40 minutes, according to multiple reports.

There have been no injuries reported, however all eight paint robots were damaged in the incident.

Management and worker representatives agreed to suspend all plant operations until 7 September, as the company works to quickly restore its paint shop.

It’s not known exactly how many EV6s are produced each month, but it’s estimated the delay will affect approximately 2500 vehicles.

As reported by Drive in June 2023, Kia Australia was able to increase its local allocation of EV6 vehicles, reducing waiting times for customers to around three to four months.

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