Kia Motors Corp. has broken ground for the construction of an assembly plant in northern Slovakia.

Some 600 guests, including Slovakia's president, top government and business officials, as well as Kia and affiliated company executives were on hand at Wednesday's ground breaking ceremony.

Kia Motors' president said the new plant would serve to materialize Hyundai Motor Group's global business strategy.

The Slovak plant, named Kia Motors Slovakia, is scheduled to start production in November 2006. The 870 million dollar structure will initially produce 200 thousand vehicles a year, ultimately expanding its capacity to 300 thousand units annually.

The assembly line located near the city of Zilina comprises(?) the South Korean automaker's first European plant. It is also expected to spawn an economic boon for the East European country, with the projected creation of up to six thousand jobs.

On March 18th, business leaders, Slovakia's prime minister and economy minister signed a memorandum of understanding on the auto manufacturing project.