A consortium of six local auto part manufacturers is bidding to take over GM Korea’s plant in Gunsan to turn it into an assembly base for electric vehicles(EV). 

The North Jeolla Provincial Office on Friday revealed the move by MS Group Consortium led by Hyundai Motor’s contractor Myoungshin Corporation. 

The consortium plans to inject an initial investment of 200 billion won to buy the Gunsan plant from the General Motors’ South Korean branch and resume operations.  

It aims to use the factory to produce 50-thousand EVs every year from 2021 and increase its annual production capacity to 150-thousand in 2025. 

It was known that Myoungshin signed a memorandum of understanding and delivered a portion of the payment for the purchase. The official deal is expected to be completed in June. 

With a space of nearly one-point-three-million square meters, the Gunsan factory is capable of producing up to 270-thousand cars annually. 

It was shut down on May 31st of last year as GM Korea accumulated a growing deficit, forcing the majority of its two-thousand employees to apply for early retirement or be furloughed.