Kia’s Pesquería plant sits in Nuevo León, in the industrial belt east of Monterrey, and is the company’s only vehicle assembly site in Mexico. Construction began in August 2014 and production started in May 2016, initially with the Forte. Installed capacity is about 400,000 vehicles a year, and the plant built its two-millionth car in August 2024.
For most of its life the site has produced compact petrol saloons, currently the K3 and K4, for the Mexican market and for export across the Americas. That changed in 2026. Kia committed $649m to the site through 2028, with more than a third of the total going on production tooling, and retooled a line for electric vehicles.
EV3 assembly began on 4 August 2026, making Pesquería the first plant outside South Korea to build a Kia battery-electric car. The programme also covers supplier development around the site and spending on charging infrastructure, renewable power and water recycling. Kia expects the work to add about 500 jobs in 2026, rising towards 1,500 by 2030. Mexican-built EV3s supply the United States, where the model went on sale for the 2027 model year.
