From Asia Pulse

SEOUL, KOREA -- Kia Motors, South Korea's No. 2 automaker, is considering building a bigger factory in the U.S. than the one it previously planned in terms of production capacity, an industry journal reported last week.

Kia previously planned to build an assembly plant with 1,500 workers, but the expanded plan involved 2,000 to 2,500 workers, Automotive News reported on its Web site, citing three unnamed officials familiar with the project.

Kia spokesman Michael Choo declined to comment on the plant's production capacity, the report said.

But the spokesman said Kia is in the process of evaluating a number of options with regard to the possible expansion of its operations in the U.S.

The automaker's plan to build its first assembly plant in the U.S. is now facing a rough road.

Kia, an affiliate of Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's top automaker, planned to choose a site in the U.S. for the plant's construction by the end of this year. However, some analysts here say the company may miss the deadline.

In September, one of Kia's co-chief executive officers, Chung Eui-sun, said he favored a site in Meridian, MS, for the plant.

However, Kia executives may think Meridian, which has a population of about 40,000, is too small to provide enough of a workforce for the company's plant, analysts in Asia say.

Eui-sun, 35, is the only son of Chung Mong-koo, chairman of Hyundai Motor.

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