BLOOMINGDALE, Ga. — An auto parts company that wires vehicles for Hyundai is putting its first Southeast foothold in Bloomingdale, Ga., a small Chatham County city west of Savannah, with a $5 million investment and 55 new jobs.
Yura Corp. made the announcement Tuesday. The company designs and builds automotive wiring, ignition parts, controls and electronics, and its Bloomingdale site will feed electrical cable systems, wiring harnesses and electronic modules to Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America in neighboring Bryan County.
Bloomingdale sits roughly 14 miles west of Savannah and is a separate city inside Chatham County, close to the interstate corridor that links the Savannah area with the Metaplant site.
At the start, Yura will use the building to store and ship parts. The company has said manufacturing will be added at the same location down the road, which would mean more work on the floor if the plan plays out.
Yura already runs 49 sites spread across 17 countries and has been named a Supplier of the Year by Hyundai. Choosing Chatham County gives the company its first presence anywhere in the Southeast.
The leader of the company’s Savannah operation, Myoungsun Cho, said the new building is meant to keep parts flowing to the Hyundai plant in Georgia and that the company wants to build close ties with people who live nearby.
State economic development commissioner Pat Wilson pointed to the move as a sign that companies trust Georgia as a place to do business, and said growth in hybrid and electric vehicle production could push Yura to expand further. He added that overseas firms often start with a warehouse before bringing manufacturing lines in.
The Savannah Economic Development Authority, the economic development agency for the Savannah area, helped land the project. Its president and CEO, Trip Tollison, called Yura a leader in automotive wiring harnesses and said local officials plan to keep working with the company as it grows.
The Hyundai Metaplant and the wider electric vehicle supply chain around it have become one of the biggest forces in the regional economy, drawing a steady line of suppliers to Chatham, Bryan and nearby counties.
Hiring details and an opening date for the Bloomingdale facility were not part of the announcement.
