By Associated Press
Seoul, South Korea – South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co. has cut its 2007 sales target for China by 16 percent due to sluggish demand, the company said.
The world's sixth largest automaker by production cut its sales target to 260,000 vehicles from 310,000 units after worse-than-expected sales in the first seven months of the year, company spokesman Jake Jang said.
The automaker, with an Alabama plant in Montgomery, owns a 38.6 percent stake in Kia Motors, which is building a factory in West Point, Ga., near the Alabama line.
Hyundai sold about 128,000 vehicles in China over the January-July period, compared with about 290,000 vehicles sold in China in 2006, Jang said.
Jang said Hyundai, which produces about 300,000 vehicles a year in China, had to lower its sales forecast because of "fierce competition" among automakers in the country.
Hyundai's market share in China through July was 4.4 percent, he said.
In 2006, Hyundai sold 2.56 million vehicles worldwide, according to Jang.