Hyundai Motor Group unveils two new models in Beijing      

SEOUL: Hyundai Motor Group, South Korea's biggest carmaker by sales, has unveiled two new vehicles at this year's Beijing Motor Show to prop up its lackluster sales in the world's biggest automobile market, the company said Wednesday.

Hyundai Motor Co. has introduced the Lafesta, a localized sporty sedan that will only be sold in China starting from the fourth quarter.

The new car will be produced at Hyundai's plant in Chongqing, the company said in a statement. Hyundai's sister company Kia Motors Corp. plans to launch the YI PAO sport utility vehicle, another model custom-made for the Chinese domestic market, in the second half of this year.

The K5 plug-in hybrid model has been introduced for the first time in China, Kia said in a statement. Further details on the two new vehicles will be released when they are launched locally, the companies said.

At the motor show that runs through May 4, Hyundai and Kia said they will display 28 vehicles, including two concept cars and environmentally friendly models.

Hyundai has displayed its Le Fil Rouge concept car, developed under the project name of HDC-1, in Beijing after taking the wraps off the concept car at the Geneva motor show in Switzerland in March. Kia has also introduced the Telluride plug-in hybrid electric (PHEV) SUV concept in Beijing.

The Telluride concept was unveiled at the Detroit auto show in 2016, and in January, Kia said it was considering launching the new SUV in the US in 2019 to take advantage of growing demand for SUVs.

Hyundai and Kia, which together form the world's fifth-largest carmaker in terms of sales, have been stepping up efforts to revive sales in China this year after their sales were hit hard by a diplomatic row between the two countries over the deployment of a US anti-missile system on the Korean Peninsula last year.