* Kia Motors car production in Slovakia doubles in 2010
* SUV models key driver, output to keep rising in 2011
* Russia biggest export market, western Europe follows
ZILINA, March 24 (Reuters) - South Korean car maker Kia
Motors Corp. <000270.KS> said on Thursday it expected output in
Slovakia to rise slightly this year driven strongly by demand
for its sport utility vehicle (SUV) models.
Kia Slovakia, which operates an assembly plant in the
northern Slovak town of Zilina with an annual capacity of
300,000 vehicles, is one of the euro zone country's biggest
exporters.
Car production jumped by more than 52 percent last year to
229,500 vehicles, up from 150,000 in 2009, beating its
pre-crisis output peak of 201,000 cars in 2008.
"Last year ended good, in fact, I would say very good,"
Dusan Dvorak, Kia Motors Slovakia spokesman, said. "The rise was
mainly thanks to new SUV models."
The car maker produces two SUV models in Slovakia, the new
generation of the Kia Sportage and Hyundai ix35 launched earlier
this year and a compact model Kia Cee'd.
The company plans to switch the Hyundai ix35 model, set for
its twin assembly plant in the neighbouring Czech republic's
Nosovice, for a small-size compact model Kia Venga in the second
half of this year.
"We expect to boost car and engine production slightly this
year," Dvorak said, confirming the company's last projection of
240,000 cars manufactured in 2012.
The car maker, which had launched mass production in
Slovakia in 2006 and currently employs more than 2,900 workers,
said most of the last year's production was again exported to
Russia, Germany and Great Britain.
Engine production at Kia's Zilina plant rose by 31 percent
on the year to 320,900 units.
The company plans to finish its second engine-making factory
in Slovakia later this year and boost its annual engine
production to 450,000 from the current 300,000.
The Slovak car industry, including assembly plants of
Volkswagen <VOWG.DE> and PSA Peugeot Citroen <PEUP.PA>, is among
key drivers of the heavily export-reliant economy, which fell
4.8 percent in 2009 and is expected to grow by 4.0 percent in
2010.
Hyundai Motor <005380.KS> and sister company Kia are using
factories in Slovakia and the Czech Republic as a base for sales
in Europe.
(Reporting by Martin Santa; Editing by Hans Peters)
