Hyundai Motor on Sunday said it would boost vehicle assembly kit exports to Russia by 60% next year in a bid to expand its share of the fast-rising new car market there.
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The automaker’s vice chairman and CEO, Kim Dong-jin, told Reuters Hyundai would sell car parts, including knock-down kits, for 80,000 vehicles in 2008 to TAGAZ, which assembles Hyundai’s passenger cars, compared to 50,000 units this year.
“We see Russia, an emerging market, has a high growth potential,” Kim told Reuters on the sidelines of a funeral for Byun Joong-seok, wife of late Hyundai Group founder Chung Ju-yung.
Citing data from the Association of European Business in the Russian Federation, Reuters said Hyundai sold 67,439 vehicles in Russia in the first seven months of this year, about 20% higher than the 56,294 units sold at this point a year ago.
Sales of foreign car brands in Russia jumped 67% during the seven months to 861,736 units, according the data reportedly showed.
Over half of the Hyundai cars sold locally are already assembled by the independent Taganrog car plant (TAGAZ) in southern Russia under a licence agreement, the news agency noted.
Separately, a Hyundai Motor Group spokesman told Reuters that affiliate Kia’s president and CEO Cho Nam-hong had said it aims to post one trillion won ($US1.05bn) in operating profit in 2010, helped by cost cuts and new products – in contrast, Kia posted an operating loss of 125.3bn won last year.
Cho said Kia planned to invest 3 trillion won by 2010 in developing nine new cars, the Hyundai spokesman told Reuters.
