Hyundai Motor Group's chairman said on Friday the group's two carmakers set a goal to produce and sell 8.2 million vehicles this year after exceeding their sales targets for 2014. 

In a ceremony marking the start of 2015, Chung Mong-koo said it would "not be difficult" to reach the combined sales target of Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. and added that it won't be long before they produce and sell more than 9 million units.

"This year's target has been set at 8.2 million, which will not be difficult to achieve," Chung told his employees gathered for the ceremony held at its Yangjae headquarters. "Currently, it stays in the 8 million unit range, but we could also go beyond the 9 million mark."

The target for 2015 comes after Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors, the country's two largest automakers, sold more than 8 million cars for the first time last year, well over their previous target of 7.86 million. 

In a regulatory filing, Hyundai Motor said it aims to sell 5.05 million vehicles this year. It plans to export 4.36 million cars and sell 690,000 units in the domestic market. 

Kia Motors said in a separate regulatory filing that its sales goal this year is 3.15 million vehicles, with its exports and domestic sales targets set at 2.67 million and 480,000, respectively. 

Chung said that global competition is intensifying amid growing economic and political uncertainties that he worried could pose challenges for the export-oriented local automakers.

He emphasized the importance of responding swiftly to changing consumer demand and enhancing product value by offering diverse eco-friendly vehicles and attaining top-notch product quality. 

"Also in the face of challenges by competitors backed by the weak yen, we need to actively respond by improving our competitiveness and keeping up efforts to reduce production costs," he added. (Yonhap)