Beijing Hyundai completes one millionth car

Beijing Hyundai produced its one millionth car here on Friday, just over five years after it first began production.

The auto joint venture between China and the Republic of Korea (ROK) was set up in November 2002 has been the fastest car maker in China to reach the one million-unit sales target.

However, no flamboyant show was put on Friday to mark the success. A simple ceremony saw workers gather for half an hour to celebrate the milestone.

Li Honglu, deputy general manager of Beijing Hyundai, said that the company wanted to save the celebration cost for donations to assist the disaster relief work in southern China region. It has donated five SUVs valued at one million yuan (138,000 U.S. dollars) in total to the snow-plagued regions.

Li said the production of the company's new model Elentra HDC has been carried out on a trial basis in the factory. Another modified model Sonata Yuxiang will be produced in the second half of this year.

"Beijing Hyundai's 2008 target is to produce and sell 380,000 units of sedans," he said.

Beijing Hyundai ranked the seventh on the sales bulletin of China's top ten sedan makers in January, which was published by the China Association of Auto Manufacturers on Feb. 20. The car maker sold 25,100 units in January.

FAW Volkswagen remains China's No. 1 sedan producers with sales standing at 65,700 units in January.