Hyundai mulls a factory in Russia

Hyundai Motor Co., Korea’s biggest automaker, said it may build a factory in Russia as economic growth boosts vehicle sales.
“We are considering building a plant in Russia when market conditions mature,” Jake Jang, Hyundai Motor’s spokesman, said by phone in Seoul. No negotiations are under way, he added.
PSA Peugeot Citroen, Suzuki Motor Corp. and other automakers plan to build plants in Russia as higher incomes and easier credit boost demand. Russians spent a record $32 billion on new cars in 2006, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP.
Hyundai Motor may build a $380 million plant in Russia, able to assemble 100,000 vehicles a year, Moscow-based Kommersant reported yesterday, citing an unidentified official familiar with the company’s plans.
The automaker already has a venture in the southern Russian city of Taganrog that assembles Verna subcompacts, Sonata sedans and Porter small trucks shipped from Korea in kit forms. The carmaker also sells imported models including Avante compacts and Santa Fe sport-utility vehicles in the country. Hyundai Motor has opened factories in China, India, Turkey and the U.S. and begun construction of a plant in the Czech Republic.