Hyundai Motors Update

I visited Hyundai Motor Company in 1983 in Seoul, Korea. The company was just a blip on the world automotive radar screen at that time. And look the company 23 years later.

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's largest automaker, targeted an 18 percent increase in group sales to 100 trillion won ($99 billion) this year, as it invests in new factories in the U.S. and China.

The group, which includes affiliate Kia Motors Corp., expects sales to accelerate from growth of 13 percent last year. Unit sales may rise by 16 percent to 4.12 million vehicles.

Chairman Chung Mong Koo is building factories overseas to achieve a goal of making the group one of the top five global carmakers by 2010. Hyundai Motor in May started producing a redesigned Sonata sedan at its first U.S. plant in Montgomery, Alabama, and last month released the V-6 engine Azera model to shift the company's image from producing only inexpensive cars.

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