Hyundai starts auto finance venture to boost sales

Hyundai Motor Co, South Korea's largest carmaker, will start providing auto loans this month to buyers in China as it seeks to increase its share of sales in the world's largest vehicle market.

Hyundai's auto-financing venture aims to have as much as 45 percent of customers who buy Hyundai and affiliate Kia Motors Corp cars purchasing on loan in three years, Lee Kyo-chang, chief executive officer of Beijing Hyundai Auto Finance Ltd, said on Monday. The company also expects to match the 30 percent annual growth in terms of volume coverage achieved by the auto-financing industry, he said.

The automaker, based in Seoul, joins General Motors Co and Volkswagen AG in setting up an auto-financing business in China, as an increasing number of the nation's younger population embrace the idea of buying cars with borrowed money.