SEOUL, South Korea (AP) — Hyundai Motor Co. is looking for a site in Brazil to build its first factory in South America, a company spokesman said Friday.
''We are going to build a factory in Brazil,'' said Jake Jang, adding that Hyundai Chairman Chung Mong-koo first announced the plan on a trip to the South American country last year.
Hyundai Vice Chairman Kim Dong-jin told new Hyundai employees Friday that the company was looking for a site for the plant, which is expected to have an annual production capacity of 100,000 vehicles, Jang said.
Jang said the timing for construction of the plant and the beginning of production had not been decided.
Hyundai announced last month it would begin building in the first half of next year a plant in St. Petersburg, Russia with an annual capacity of 100,000 vehicles. The company said it would complete the facility by 2009.
The automaker is expanding aggressively overseas and operates plants in China, India, Turkey and the United States. It is currently building one in the Czech Republic.
Hyundai, with affiliate Kia Motors Corp., is the world's sixth-largest automaker and has ambitions to crack the top five by 2010.
Kia has plants in China and Slovakia and is building one in the United States.
