20 years of Hyundai: How one automaker transformed an Alabama city into a Korean hub

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Any Montgomery resident knows about the Montgomery Biscuits. This team, though, has an unexpected boost unique to the region that’s landed them — and Montgomery by extension — on an international radar: Montgomery’s robust Korean culture.

They may have read about the team in another language and under another name — the Montgomery Kimchi — on a Korean news site, but the result is the same: Koreans know the name of Montgomery, Alabama from halfway across the world.

This phenomenon didn’t start with baseball, though, and Korean businesses exploding around the city was never a coincidence. It started with Hyundai coming to Alabama's capital city twenty years ago to open the company's first U.S. manufacturing plant.

Two decades of Hyundai growth reshapes Montgomery

Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama officially opened for business on May 20, 2005. The plant started production with the 2006 Hyundai Sonata and employed around 2,000 at the time.

In the 20 years since, it has produced 6.27 million vehicles, averaging around 360,000 vehicles annually, and expanded its direct work force to 4,200 people. Meanwhile, the company has invested billions of dollars into the plant as well as created — both directly and indirectly — 40,000 jobs in Alabama.

Beyond that, this choice to anchor Hyundai operations in Montgomery has grown the city's Asian population. According to data from Biggest U.S. Cities, which pulls data from the U.S. Census Bureau and American Community Surveys, 2.9% of Montgomery's population identifies as Asian, and 2.2% of the population speaks an Asian language.

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Though other Alabama metros like Birmingham, Mobile and Huntsville's populations are Asian by 1.1%, 1.9% and 2.6% respectively, all of these areas host far fewer residents who speak an Asian language at home than Montgomery does. Huntsville hosts the most speakers of an Asian language out of the top four Alabama cities, but even Huntsville's 1.3% of residents who can speak an Asian language is below Montgomery's statistics.

Beyond the numbers, interest in Korean culture is evident everywhere in Montgomery, from church signs in Korean to shopping centers filled with Korean services, and immigrants say that much of it can be traced back to Hyundai.

Building a bridge between cultures

When Meesoon Han, the executive director of the Alabama International Education and Economic Partnership, first came to Montgomery from Illinois in the early 1990s, the Korean friends she talked to about moving had never heard of Montgomery.

Han said that, as Hyundai's influence grew, so did the presence of Korean culture and people.

"The first time I came here in 1993, no one knew of Korea," Han said. "Now, though, the economic impact is everywhere — from grocery stores, restaurants, churches... even just people driving Hyundai cars, or seeing LG appliances in stores or Samsung phones ... It's not even just in Montgomery; Auburn and Opelika and other places on the I-85 corridor have seen a huge impact from the industry."

What first attracted Koreans to the area — and in part continues to attract Korean immigrants and Korean Americans alike — was the power of the brand name alone, according to Keith Park, an international student who also serves as the director of external affairs for ALIEEP.

"There are many Korean Americans coming from different states just because of the power of the name Hyundai gives," Park said. "It's the No. 1 car manufacturing brand in Korea, and they [Koreans] know it's important and the stability of the jobs there. People come from California, New York, students from prestigious colleges — they all come here on the name of Hyundai and share perspective which helped build [international] relationships here."

Because of the plant setting up shop in Alabama's capital, Han said many students took an interest in learning Korean. A significant part of ALIEEP's work involves educational programs that teach Korean as a second language.

"Think about the job employability... When everybody knows Spanish, is it a value to you?" Han said. "Teaching children to have different skills so they can appeal when applying to jobs, your salary would increase by 10-15% just by [knowing a unique language]."

Milestones to a melting pot

Beyond a literal language gap, cultural gaps have also begun to fill in over the past 20 years in the form of new businesses taking an interest in the city, which bolsters Montgomery's economic progress. Park said he remembers when the Korean brand bb.q Chicken opened in Montgomery, and how that stood out to him as a staple of progress.

"When I first came here in 2015, there were cravings I was looking for when I was homesick that weren't covered," Park said. "When the No. 1 Korean chicken place came here... it was only accessible in Atlanta or New York before. Now Montgomery's competing with those places. ... Ten years ago, there wasn't much influence from the community, but it has grown from our organization and other Korean people who involved."

Han said that the plant not only has brought in the massive Korean population Montgomery sees today, but the plant’s operations stand as an example of the melting pot ideology America was founded on, as well as the values even the current administration expresses.

“Hyundai is an example of a foreign company making its product in America for Americans,” Han said. “It’s exactly what Trump is talking about — the name is Hyundai, but it’s made in America. We are inviting these international companies that benefit Alabama in this way … we really need to embrace immigrants and understand their services.”

Additionally, Han highlighted that diversifying the area with Korean culture is not only good for the sake of inclusivity, but it also gives Alabamians in the area a globalizing advantage.

"The Air Force base here is a very big military community," Han said. "It [the benefit of being exposed to Korean culture] is not just directly related to Hyundai, but the military also wants to learn the language. Even so many people are interested in K-pop or K-drama, but all those interests were enhanced by Hyundai."

Heart of Alabama as a hub of change

Despite all the positive change Han and Park have reported seeing — even in just the past five years — there's still progress to pursue.

Han said that, years ago, when they first came to Montgomery, her son was teased for being "Chinese," noting that Americans in the area assumed every Asian that they saw was Chinese. Now, she says, Chinese students may be confused for being Korean on account of Hyundai's status as a staple in Montgomery. She said while "this is huge" and shows increased awareness, there's still a lot of work left to do in terms of bridging cultures.

"When I try to get sponsorships from local businesses, they think that I'm teaching Korean to Korean students and say I should get Hyundai to pay for it," Han said. "I keep asking them, 'Why would I teach Korean to Koreans? They already know that.' Our Korean program is for local Alabamians. ... You don't expect Mexico to pay for Spanish courses. I still struggle with that, [working through misunderstandings and] getting certified teachers for these programs because they cost money. .... We need to globalize students and their softer skills and diversify them."

Still, Han thinks Montgomery is a perfect place to make those strides.

“Montgomery is the leader of Civil Rights Movement … and everyone thinks of the East and West Coast, because they are embracing multicultural and multiethnic world," Han said. "But, here, we need to move beyond Black and White, and immigrant populations are growing across the United States, and here in Alabama. And Hyundai is an example of that."

Sarah Clifton covers business for the Montgomery Advertiser. You can reach her at sclifton@montgome.gannett.com or follow her on X @sarahgclifton.