Hyundai Motor to build factory in Russia

Hyundai Motor, the largest automobilecompany in South Korea, began building a 400-million-U.S.-dollars factory in Russia on Thursday in a bid to boost sales in the country's fast-growing automobile market, Xinhua reported.

According to Hyundai, the factory will be completed by 2010 in the Kamenka industrial zone in St. Petersburg and will eventually have a production capacity of 100,000 vehicles a year.

The Russia plant will be poised to serve as a strategic center for Hyundai Motor's sales in Eastern Europe, Hyundai Motor Vice Chairman Seo Byung-ki told reporters at a groundbreaking ceremony.

With high-quality products, Hyundai Motor aims to become the No. 1 brand in Russia, Seo added.

Hyundai, the world's sixth-largest carmaker with its affiliate Kia Motors Corp., is aggressively pushing to build overseas plants to deal with currency fluctuations and domestic labor strikes, according to Yonhap.

Hyundai said it plans to cut the ratio of domestic output to 50 percent from the current 70 percent by 2010.

Source: Transportweekly