BEIJING, December 31, 2008-- Beijing Hyundai Motor Co. has launched a face-lifted sedan based on Hyundai's seventh generation Sonata with a new name and lower price.

 

To differentiate it from the Sonata NF, the face-lifted car has a new Chinese name, the Ling Xiang.

 

With a 2.0-liter or 2.4-liter engine, the Ling Xiang has a starting price of 155,800 yuan ($22,761), cheaper than 165,800 yuan ($24,222) for the Sonata NF.

 

Production of the Sonata NF has ceased after the launch of the Ling Xiang, according to the company. Sales of the NF in China slid 46 percent year-on-year to 6,937 units in the first eleven months, according to Automotive Resources Asia, a unit of J.D. Power and Associates.

 

Hyundai redesigned the front bumper and rear bumper, roof, lamps and some interior parts of the Sonata to make it more attractive to Chinese customers, says Yuan Wenxue, vice president of Beijing Hyundai and director of the company's r&d center.

 

"Hyundai has made a great deal of effort to study Chinese customers' tastes," says Yuan.

 

Before redesigning the Ling Xiang, Beijing Hyundai surveyed customers in five major Chinese cities including Beijing and Shanghai on what they expect from a Hyundai model. The company also solicited leading Chinese designers' assessment of the redesign.

 

For instance, the redesigned car stresses more on the comfort of rear seats to accommodate the needs of customers who use chauffeurs.

 

Major redesign work of the car was done in Korea, but Beijing Hyundai's new r&d center also assisted the redesign, such as weather conditions and road surfaces adaptability tests, says Yuan.

 

In the second half of 2009, Beijing Hyundai also plans to launch another face-lifted Sonata based on the fifth generation of Sonata. The redesign is mainly undertaken by Beijing Hyundai's new r&d center.

 

Target customers of the two Sonata models are different. The face-lifted Sonata to be sold next year will be much cheaper than the Ling Xiang, says Yuan.

 

Yuan says the center will participate more in the design of Hyundai's follow-up models for China.

 

Set up in earlier this year, the center has about 100 engineers.

 

Hyundai plans to launch the i30 hatchback in 2009 in China and an entry-level car especially designed for China in 2010.

 

According to information it has released on its Web site, Beijing Hyundai sold 266,347 cars in China in the first eleven months, up 28.6 percent from a year earlier.