China's Largest Car Export Deal Confirmed

A joint venture between China and South Korea has announced China's biggest ever car export deal with the sale of 19,000 vehicles to Russia.

Beijing Hyundai Motors (BHM), a 50-50 joint venture between Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co and Hyundai Motors of South Korea, will export 19,000 Hyundai Sonatas worth US$200 million to Russia this year, according to a company executive.

"The Ministry of Commerce said the export deal equals all the sedan cars exported overseas since the founding of New China," according to Xu Heyi, general manager of the company.

The first batch of Sonata cars will head for Russia in April, Xu said.

BHM was the first automobile joint venture approved by China after its entry to the World Trade Organization. It introduced the Sonata, its first model, in December 2002.

Last year, BHM's production capacity doubled to 300,000 units and the company is planning another production base of a similar size this year.

BHM is also planning to launch another sedan model in the second half of this year, following its Sonata and Elantra models. Its output for 2004 is targeted at 150,000 units, almost triple that of last year.