Beijing Hyundai's production site was previously capable of producing 300,000 vehicles per year and received a serious equipment upgrade in order to double its output capacity. The plant originally only assembled two models and has been upgraded to produce four.: the Hyundai ix35 SUV and the Beijing Hyundai NFC have joined the Hyundai Elantra sedan and the i30 compact.
The plant’s production capacity increase is included in the joint business’ overall expansion plan. Last year, the project enabled Beijing Hyundai to post a sales increase of 93.6 percent, the highest boom registered by a joint business in China. However, in terms of overall volume, the Hyundai lost the top position to Volkswagen. The tie-up has set a 2010 sales increase target of 18 percent, planing to sell 670,000 vehicles. The company wants to maintain a steady market expansion.
The Beijing Hyundai JV was established in 2002, and initially used imported parts for producing vehicles. The business has been on an increasing localization trend, using more and more local suppliers. Last year, it reached an employment localization rate of 56 percent. The tie-up uses three production sites and a research & development center, producing Hyundai cars only destined for the Chinese market. As these are custom made for the country, some of them are totally different vehicles than the ones sold under the same name on other markets.
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