SAO PAULO (AP) -- South Korean automaker Hyundai has begun building its seventh overseas plant in southeastern Brazil.
Hyundai Motor Co. says in a statement that production at its $600 million plant in the city of Piracicaba will begin in the second half of 2012 and will eventually reach a capacity of 150,000 units a year.
The ground breaking ceremony took place Friday.
The statement says that the first model to be produced will be a small hatchback designed for the Central and South American markets. All cars will be flex-fuel models that can run on ethanol, gasoline or any combination of the two.
Hyundai has plants in China, India, Turkey, the United States, the Czech Republic and Russia.