Hyundai Targets Ford (F) in Brazil

South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co. on Friday unveiled ambitious plans to surpass U.S-based Ford Motor Co. (NYSE:F) as the fourth-largest auto maker in Brazil.

The company's intention is to reach fourth place as early as 2013.

"Without a local plant, we reached a market share of 3% in 2010. The plan is to reach 10% of the market, passing Ford, by 2013, with our own plant," said Hyundai Director Kim Ki-tae.

In 2010, Brazilian auto sales reached their highest annual total ever as rising wages and consumer confidence boosted purchases. Total sales in 2010 were 3.5 million vehicles, up 12% compared with 2009.

Hyundai sold a total of 106,012 vehicles in Brazil last year, while Ford sold 336,297, for a 9.6% market share.

Global players are increasingly interested in Brazil because of the country's obvious potential for growth. Brazil's economy expanded by an estimated 7.5% in 2010.






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Ford (NYSE:F) Shrinks Pay Gap with Foreign Automakers

One of the major competitive challenges of American automakers over the recent years was the outrageous amount that had to pay their workers, which made them unable to compete. For Ford (NYSE:F) that has changed as a result of union concessions which brought compensation back to reality.

It had cost Ford $75 an hour for each worker in the past, while competitors like Toyota (NYSE:TM) were able to operate at $56 an hour. Now Ford is able to compete at $59 an hour, bringing them close in line to their peers.

Ford said they're going to continue to work to lower that gap in order to be able to compete on a sustainable level.

Other competitors like Nissan, Hyundai and Kia operate at a level of about $48 an hour per employee.

One way they were able to make it look closer was to remove the cost of healthcare from their balance sheets by creating trusts to cover the costs.

Ford closed Friday at $16.73, down $0.03, or 0.18 percent.