Hyundai Motor taps into China's commercial vehicle market

SEOUL: South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co. on Friday announced a tie-up with a Chinese company to produce commercial vehicles in China as it seeks to build on its reputation for passenger cars in the world's largest automarket.

The largest South Korean automaker on Friday signed a memorandum of understanding with Ziyang Nanjun Automobile Co. that will see a joint investment of 500 billion won (440 million dollars).

Hyundai and Nanjun will establish a number of joint projects to produce and sell trucks, buses and engines, as well as to develop new models and provide follow-up services, Hyundai Motor said in a press statement.

Through the joint venture, Hyundai hopes to sell about 90,000 commercial vehicles in 2011, rising to 300,000 by 2015, representing a five percent share of China's commercial vehicle market, it said.

Hyundai Motor has two plants in Beijing with an annual production capacity of 300,000 cars each.

It sold 510,000 vehicles in the first nine months of this year, up 24 percent from the same period last year.