(Yicai Global) Aug. 3 -- Hyundai Motor Group will resume sales of imported vehicles in China after a three-year hiatus that was due to poor performance at its joint ventures in the country, Yicai Global learned from the South Korean auto giant.

Hyundai will begin presales of the first model, the Palisade sport utility vehicle, at the Beijing International Automotive Exhibition next month, the Seoul-based company said on Aug. 1. Hyundai will also build its first sales network in China to replace dealers.

The Palisade debuted in November 2018, and last year sold 100,000 units worldwide, mainly in South Korea and the US. The firm has not revealed the latest pricing of the vehicle in Chinese market.

Hyundai entered China in 2002 by setting up two joint ventures, Beijing-Hyundai Auto and Dongfeng Yueda Kia. Sales at both fell last year, with Beijing-Hyundai Auto suffering a 9.4 percent drop to 716,000 units and Dongfeng Yueda Kia down 22 percent at 289,000, driven by an overall market slump.

China’s imported car sales peaked at 28,000 units in 2012, according to Hyundai, but dropped to around 7,000 in 2015, affected by technology upgrades at its Chinese JVs. In 2017, the automaker decided to close all sales channels for imported vehicles in China, with imported Hyundai cars subsequently pulling out of the market.

Hyundai is rebooting the business mainly to tap into the recovery in China’s auto market, said Li Hongpeng, its chief business officer in the country. In the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, China has introduced a number of favorable policies to boost the auto market and demand is gradually picking up, he added.

Li also said that SUVs are becoming the most popular vehicles in China, so Hyundai plumped for the Palisade as the first vehicle back in the market. SUV sales in China jumped 10.5 percent in June from a year earlier, while sedan sales fell 4.9 percent, according to data from the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers.

Editors: Dou Shicong, Peter Thomas