Hyundai paves path for growth through India, China

Hyundai Motor Co. (Seoul, Korea) continues to make sizable investments in China and India, raising annual auto production in the region to a combined 1 million cars by 2007. In India, Hyundai lifted annual capacity by 150,000 on the basis of predictions that emerging country’s car market will rise from sales of 920,000 in 2005 to 1.62 million by 2010. Hyundai’s 2005 sales target was 250,000, and by 2010 it hopes to sell 400,000 vehicles for a market share of 20%.

The company built a second assembly plant adjacent to its existing manufacturing complex in the southeastern port city of Chennai. The 2.1-million-sq-m plant began construction in April 2005, with completion slated for 2007.

In April, Hyundai, along with 50:50 joint-venture partner Beijing Automotive Holdings, broke ground on a second automotive manufacturing plant in Beijing at a total cost of $1 billion. Located on a greenfield site less than 2 km from the existing plant, the new facility will double production to 600,000 units when it opens in April 2008. Hyundai is anticipating growth generated by the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2010 Shanghai Expo.

In 2006, Hyundai in China surpassed the 500,000 cumulative sales mark, up from 52,129 in 2003, which was its first full year of sales. Beijing Hyundai builds the Sonata, Elantra, Tucson, and Accent, with the Sonata and Elantra recently chosen as the standard taxi for Beijing, resulting in a fleet of 67,000.

Hyundai, which opened its first U.S. plant in 2005 in Montgomery, AL at a cost of $1.1 billion, was the sixth largest automaker in the world in 2005 in terms of global sales with 3.7 million units, just behind DaimlerChrysler (4.8 million) and ahead of Nissan (3.5 million). —Tony Deligio; [email protected]