SEOUL, April 23 (Reuters) - South Korea's Hyundai Motor plans to start making the gasoline-electric hybrid version of its new Sonata sedan in China starting late this year, seeking to drive sales of environmentally friendly cars in the world's biggest car market.
This would be its first hybrid car to be produced overseas, a Hyundai Motor spokeswoman said on Thursday. Sonata hybrids being sold in the United States and other markets are currently made in South Korea.
Segment leader Toyota Motor Corp and local China brands such as Geely are embracing conventional hybrid cars, even though the technology does not receive as generous an incentives from Beijing as all-electric cars and heavily electrified plug-in hybrids.
Toyota, which already assembles the Prius and Camry hybrids in China with component and system kits brought in from Japan, last year announced a plan to start sales of Corolla and Levin models equipped with China-produced major hybrid components in 2015. Honda Motor plans to start making hybrid cars in China by 2016.
Last year, Hyundai and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp said they would triple their number of green vehicles by 2020 as part of efforts to raise fuel economy by 25 percent by that year and address investor concerns about the pair's lack of green credentials.
(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin in SEOUL and Norihiko Shirouzu in BEIJING; Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)