December 17, 2007 -- SEOUL, Dec. 17 Asia Pulse - The Hyundai Motor Co., (KSE:005380), South Korea's largest carmaker, signed a preliminary agreement with a Russian province Monday to build a US$400 million manufacturing plant in the resource-rich country, with the aim of grabbing a bigger slice of the booming automobile market.

The plant, with a yearly capacity of 100,000 vehicles, will be located in St. Petersburg, the South Korean automaker said in a statement.

The agreement was signed in Seoul by Hyundai Motor Chairman Chung Mong-koo and Valentina Matviyenko, the governor of St. Petersburg, according to the statement.

"Through the construction of the local plant, Hyundai Motor aims to become a brand to be loved by Russians," Chung said in the statement.

Construction will begin during the first half of next year, Hyundai said.

The plant in Russia would be Hyundai's seventh overseas.

Hyundai is aggressively expanding its overseas manufacturing plants to offset damages from labor strikes at home and reduce risks from the strong local currency.

Hyundai has plants in the United States, China, India and Turkey and is building another plant in the Czech Republic.

For the first seven months of this year, Hyundai's auto sales in Russia rose 20 per cent to 67,349 units, according to company data.

(Yonhap)

Source: Asia Pulse