Hyundai-Kia see aggresively growth

Hyundai (its vehicles are shown) and Kia aim to take 9% of the global auto market by 2010, up from 5.5% in 2007.

HyundaiMotor Co., South Korea’s largest automaker, and affiliate Kia Motors Corp. aim to almost double their global market share by 2010 after increasing overseas capacity.

Hyundai and Kia aim to take 9% of the global auto market by 2010, up from 5.5% in 2007, the Seoul-based carmaker said Monday in an e-mailed statement. The two automakers will be able to build more than 6 million vehicles worldwide by 2010, compared with 5.3 million this year.

Chairman Chung Mong Koo plans to build factories in Russia and Brazil to meet growing demand in emerging markets, following the addition of new plants in China and India. Hyundai plans to open a factory in the Czech Republic later this year while Kia’s plant in the U.S. state of Georgia is due to start operations next year.

Hyundai and Kia last year sold about 3.96 million vehicles globally, becoming the world’s fifth-biggest carmaking group compared with sixth place in 2006, Hyundai said in a separate statement Monday, citing data by Automotive News, a trade publication. A total of 71.9 million vehicles were sold globally last year, according to the statement.

Battery venture OK’d

Robert Bosch GmbH, the world’s largest auto parts maker, and Samsung SDI Co. won European antitrust approval to form a venture to produce batteries for hybrid vehicles.

The European Commission in Brussels said it approved the transaction in a statement Monday.

SB LiMotive will be set up in South Korea next month and will begin production in 2010, Suwon, South Korea-based SDI said in a regulatory filing in June. Bosch and SDI will jointly invest about $500 million in the business over the next five years, Seo Hae Soo, a spokesman for SDI, said at the time.

Rising gasoline prices are boosting demand for fuel-efficient cars and trucks, prompting companies such as Toyota Motor Corp. and General Motors Corp. to invest in hybrid automotive technology. Sales of hybrid vehicles may reach 5 million units by 2015, up from 365,000 in 2006, according to the statement, citing estimates by Japanese researcher Hiedge Institute Ltd.

Mahindra: No on Hummer

Mahindra & Mahindra Ltd., India’s largest maker of SUVs, said it’s not interested in purchasing the Hummer brand of General Motors Corp., denying media reports.

“There is a lot of speculation. Let me categorically say that we are not pursuing Hummer,” the Mumbai-based company’s Managing Director Anand Mahindra told reporters Monday.

GM is in talks with Mahindra, a Russian automaker and a Chinese automaker on a possible sale of the Hummer brand, Reuters reported July 31, citing people familiar with the matter.

Chrysler sues JCI

Chrysler LLC is seeking more than $15 million from Johnson Controls Inc. over what the automaker claims are “systematic and deliberate overcharges” for its battery products, Dow Jones newswires reported.

The automaker claims Johnson Controls provided fictitious weight data under the guise that it could charge Chrysler more for the amount of lead used in its battery products.

Chrysler had agreed to pay more to cover increasing lead costs. The automaker is seeking a jury trial.

The suit was filed Aug. 14 in Pontiac.

Source:Freep.com

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