Chrysler to Sell Hyundais in U.S. Beginning in 1991

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea’s biggest auto maker, will sell 30,000 autos a year in the United States through Chrysler Corp. beginning in 1991, a Hyundai spokesman said today.

Hyundai will sell, through Chrysler’s Eagle Division, a four-door sedan with a 2,400-cubic centimeter engine that will be assembled at Hyundai’s newly opened plant in Bromont, Quebec.

Hyundai has not decided yet whether the model will be the Sonata, currently on sale in the United States, or a completely new model.

Hyundai’s Canadian plant, the first Korean auto assembly plant outside Korea, has been producing Sonatas since Jan. 13 and will produce about 30,000 Sonatas this year.

The capacity will increase to 100,000 units by 1991. About 50,000 autos will be sold in the United States directly by Garden Grove-based Hyundai Motor America and 20,000 units will be sold in Canada.

With the alliance between Hyundai and Chrysler, all three major South Korean auto makers will be teamed up with the Big Three U.S. auto makers. Daewoo Motor is 50% owned by General Motors Corp. and Kia Motors is 10% owned by Ford Motor Co.

GM’s Pontiac Division now markets Daewoo’s LeMans in the United States.