(Adds truck plan completion, para 7 and 8)
SEOUL, Jan 16 (Reuters) - South Korea's top auto maker, Hyundai Motor Co , forecast on Friday an operating profit of 2.6 trillion won ($2.19 billion) for 2004 and scaled back investment by about one fifth from an earlier projection.
The profit estimate for 2003 has not been released.
Hyundai, which controls 48 percent of South Korea's 20 trillion won auto market, said it aimed to sell 2.145 million vehicles this year worth 31 trillion won.
Domestic sales were expected to rise 13.4 percent to 710,000 units this year, while exports were seen rising 4.2 percent to 1.054 million units and sales from overseas plants jumping 57.6 percent to 381,000 units, Hyundai said in a statement.
To help boost global output, the company said it planned to invest 2.61 trillion won in 2004, comprising some 1.89 trillion won at home and 723 billion won overseas.
The new investment target was lower than its earlier projection of 3.17 trillion won announced on January 2 due to a cut in planned investment overseas. In 2003, Hyundai spent 2.34 trillion won on facilities and research.
Hyundai also said the construction of a local truck plant jointly invested with DaimlerChrysler AG would be completed in April although it may take some time to set up a joint venture.
DaimlerChrysler, which owns ten percent of Hyundai, is seeking to deepen its ties with the company by launching a 50:50 joint venture in South Korea to manufacture trucks.
Shares in Hyundai Motor rose 0.6 percent to end at 52,400 won, while the benchmark index finished up 0.27 percent.
($1=1186.0 Won)
(Additional reporting by Kim Kyoung-wha)