BEIJING, Feb. 16 (Xinhuanet) -- A China-Republic of Korea (ROK) joint venture has announced China's biggest ever car export deal with the sale of 19,000 vehicles to Russia.

    Beijing Hyundai Motors (BHM), a 50-50 joint venture between Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co. and Hyundai Motors of the ROK, will export 19,000 Hyundai Sonatas worth 200 million US dollars to Russia this year, said a company executive.

    "The Ministry of Commerce said the export deal equals all the sedan cars exported overseas since the founding of New China," said Xu Heyi, general manager of the company, quoted by Monday's Beijing Youth Daily.

    The first batch of Sonata cars will head for Russia in April, Xu said.

    BHM was the first automobile joint venture approved by China after its entry to the World Trade Organization. It introduced theSonata, its first model, in December 2002.

    Last year, BHM's production capacity doubled to 300,000 units and the company is planning another production base of a similar size this year.

    BHM is also planning to launch another sedan model in the second half of this year, following its Sonata and Elantra models.Its output for 2004 is targeted at 150,000 units, almost triple that of last year. Enditem