SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Hyundai Motor Co. said Monday it plans to build a factory in Russia, though key details including the location of the plant and size of the investment remain undecided.
Hyundai Motor Chairman Chung Mong-koo disclosed the plan in a meeting with Russian government officials in Moscow on Friday, Hyundai spokesman Ki Jin-ho said.
Chung said the factory would have an annual capacity of 100,000 vehicles, according to Ki. Where the factory was to be built and how much it would cost was to be determined later, he said.
Demand for autos is growing fast in Russia and Hyundai needs to respond, Ki said.
Hyundai currently has factories in China, India, Turkey and the United States, with another under construction in the Czech Republic.
The automaker, the world's sixth largest, produces vehicles in cooperation with a Russian partner by exporting kits for local assembly.
Ki said Hyundai is the biggest seller of foreign vehicles in Russia. In October, Hyundai sold 16,489 vehicles, an increase of 92 percent from the same period last year.
The automaker sold 100,685 vehicles in Russia last year, with about half the total consisting of vehicles assembled in the country.
Hyundai had said last month that it was considering a factory in Russia.
