SHANGHAI, April 20 (Reuters) - Hyundai Motor Co Ltd's Chinese venture said on Sunday it aimed to double car production capacity to 100,000 units per year in 2003 to meet demand in a fast-growing but increasingly competitive market.
Hyundai, South Korea's top automaker, plans to crank out 2.1 million vehicles worldwide this year, up from 1.9 million in 2002, executives told reporters.
"We have started upgrading our production lines and our capacity will hit 100,000 units this year," said Xu Heyi, chairman of Beijing Hyundai Motor Co -- a 50-50 venture between Hyundai and Beijing Automotive Industry Holdings.
Beijing Hyundai, based in China's capital, maintains capacity of 50,000 units a year, Xu said at the Shanghai Auto show.
The venture would roll out its Elantra car series in China in the second half of this year, he said, vying with a slew of new models from the likes of General Motors Corp and Japan's Nissan Motor Co .
Hyundai unveiled its mid-sized Sonata car in December.
"With the Sonata and Elantra series as our main product lines, our sales will hit 100,000 units next year, giving us more than 10 percent market share in that particular segment in China," Xu said in a speech.
Hyundai is among a raft of automakers trying to get a slice of the potentially huge Chinese auto market, which saw car sales top one million vehicles in 2002 for the first time. It is aiming to ramp up both output and sales to about 300,000 cars by 2005.