Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's top carmaker, said Friday it was targeting sales of US$7 billion this year in China, the world's fourth-largest car market.

That figure covered sales from Beijing Hyundai Automotive Corp., a 50-50 joint venture with Beijing Automotive, and the China operations of its affiliate, Kia Motors Corp., the company said in a statement.

The company did not say what kind of growth that US$7 billion target represents over last year.

Beijing Hyundai would expand production capacity to 300,000 vehicles a year this year, doubling the 150,000 car capacity it had last year, it said.

By 2008, the venture aimed to have annual capacity of 600,000 vehicles a year.

That venture now had capacity of 130,000 cars a year and a planned second factory would add another 300,000 vehicles, it said.

Foreign carmakers are spending US$13 billion in China to triple capacity to some 6 million cars a year by 2010.

After nearly doubling in 2003, growth in China's car sales slowed to 15 percent last year and analysts expect that growth will ease further this year.

(Shenzhen Daily April 18, 2005)