Hyundai has opened its first plant in the US, located in Montgomery, Alabama. It is a $1.1 billion facility that the company claims to be the most advanced in the world.

Hyundai joins Honda and Mercedes in Alabama, to become the third foreign automobile manufacturer located there.

Once the plant swings into full production, Alabama will have the capacity to make 800,000 cars per year, up from zero auto production just eight years ago.

The American South has become a rival to the traditional Michigan automakers and a favorite location for foreign manufacturers because the South is less unionized and wages are much lower there.

Hyundai sold 419,000 cars in the United States last year, amounting to 4.1 percent of the total market, and is also becoming more of a force in Europe, where it is currently building a $1 billion plant in Slovakia.

The company is already the number one seller of cars in China and India.