Hyundai, Kia's capacity to reach 6 mln units next year: exec

SEOUL, Nov. 23 (Yonhap) -- South Korea's top automaker Hyundai Motor Co. and its
affiliate, Kia Motors Corp., will have a combined annual capacity of 6 million
vehicles by 2010, a Hyundai executive said Monday.
"We are strategically expanding output in emerging markets such as Eastern
Europe, India and China and aim to achieve that goal by next year," Hyundai Motor
Vice Chairman Lee Hyun-soon said in a keynote speech at a forum in Seoul.
In the first nine month months of this year, Hyundai and Kia produced half of
their vehicles in domestic factories, with the remainder manufactured by overseas
plants.
Hyundai sold a total of 2.49 million units in the January-October period, up 7.2
percent from a year ago. The company aims to sell about 3 million vehicles this
year.
The vice chairman said its focus on mini cars helped the company weather the
global economic slowdown.
Hyundai dedicated 55 percent of its overall production to small cars, the highest
rate after German automaker Volkswagen AG, Lee said.
As of the end of September, Hyundai's global market share stood at 5.5 percent,
up from 5.2 percent three months earlier.
pbr@yna.co.kr
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