KIA car plant opens in Kazakhstan
ASTANA. Oct 21 (Interfax) - The South Korea-Kazakhstan KIA Qazaqstan joint venture began full-cycle automobile manufacturing on Tuesday by launching the KIA Sportage model.
Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev attended the opening of the plant, located in Kostanay, a regional capital in the north of the country, the presidential press service said.
"I believe that the company will also launch manufacturing of other new car models going forward. This would create the opportunity to export our cars to foreign markets," the press service quoted the president as saying.
Tokayev noted that the plant focuses on localizing production, which will significantly increase the Kazakh content in the manufactured products. "According to expert estimates, every job at the automobile plant indirectly creates up to five or six additional jobs in logistics, the service sector, and infrastructure. This is not just a linear expansion, but a major step towards forming a full-fledged industrial cluster where small and medium-sized businesses will get a real opportunity for stable development," he said.
According to the president, over 290 billion tenge was invested in Kazakhstan's automobile industry last year, which is a 150% rise from the previous year. The positive trend continues, with 178 billion tenge already invested in the sector since the beginning of this year. Last year, Kazakhstan produced more than 145,000 vehicles. Automotive industry enterprises operate in Astana, Almaty, Semey, Uralsk, Kokshetau, Kostanay, and Saran. This sector employs over 10,000 citizens, nearly half of whom are young people.
The decision to build the KIA Qazaqstan plant was made in 2023. The enterprise is located on a 62.95-hectare site within the Kostanay industrial zone. The plant's production capacity is 70,000 vehicles per year, with an investment volume of 131.5 billion tenge. The plant has created 1,500 jobs, and its target markets are Kazakhstan, Central Asian countries, and the EAEU.
The official exchange rate as on October 21, 2025, is 538.12 tenge/$1.
