The new Kia Motors plant in West Point, Ga., could start making the Hyundai Sante Fe SUV, as production is shifted from Hyundai's Montgomery, Ala., factory.

News of the possible shift surfaced Wednesday after a Gadsden, Ala., supplier to the Hyundai plant notified the state of Alabama about temporary layoffs that would result from the production shift.

Hyundai Motor Co. owns a majority interest in Kia. At the West Point plant, which started production in late November, Kia makes the Sorento, a small SUV similar to Hyundai's Sante Fe.

Mike McCain, executive director of the Gadsden-Etowah County Industrial Development Authority told GlobalAtlanta that Jay Mid-South LLC, which makes seat frames for the Sante Fe and the Sonata sedan, which is also made in Montgomery, told the state of Alabama that it will need to temporarily lay off about 75 workers during the shift of Sante Fe production this summer to the Kia factory. Once Sante Fe production resumes in West Point, the supplier would resume its previous employment level, Mr. McCain said.

Robert Burns, spokesman for the Hyundai plant in Montgomery, wouldn't confirm the production shift.

"I can't discuss the details. There's no formal decision for the production schedule for the Sante Fe," he told GlobalAtlanta.

Alex Fedorak, spokesman for Kia Motors America, told GlobalAtlanta, "The [West Point] plant has been built to accommodate more than one platform, but we're only four months into production."

Though the South Korean auto makers operate as separate entities in the U.S., there is precedent for a Kia plant producing Hyundai models. Kia's plant in Slovakia recently began making the Hyundai ix35, a small SUV marketed in North America as the Tucson.

Hyundai and Kia have been steadily gaining U.S. market share in recent years. Days after holding the grand opening of the West Point plant last week, Kia announced that it had its best February ever in the American market. Kia sold 8,207 Sorentos last month, making the Georgia-made SUV its most popular model.

Hyundai sold 7,964 Sante Fes in February, a 52.4 percent increase from the same year-ago period. 

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