Top representatives of Hyundai Motor Group's overseas sales networks said Wednesday they will focus on Europe and Latin America in the second half of 2017 to boost sales and offset lower demand in China.

In a meeting held at the automotive group's headquarters in southern Seoul, overseas sales managers discussed ways to cope with conditions in China that affected overall performance in the first half, the company said in a statement. 

Representatives, while vowing to revive sales in China, stressed the need to increase sales in Europe and rapidly growing emerging markets such as India, Russia and Brazil.

Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp., key affiliates of the world's No. 5 automotive group by sales, have recently launched the Kona and Stonic subcompact sport-utility vehicle that is aimed at absorbing growing global demand for small, B-segment SUVs.

The two carmakers plan to ship their subcompact SUVs to the European and the US markets starting late this year.

Hyundai and Kia sold a combined 3.52 million vehicles globally in the January-June period, down 8.7 percent from a year earlier.

The decline was mainly affected by a sharp sales drop in China.

Data showed combined sales of the two automakers plunged 46.7 percent to 430,000 units in the first six months in the world's largest automobile market.

China, Seoul's largest trading partner, has imposed restrictions on various South Korean imports. Such actions are widely seen as apparent economic retaliations over the deployment of an advanced US missile defense system in South Korea.

Seoul and Washington said the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system is only meant to counter North Korea's evolving nuclear and missile threats. China, on the other hand, repeatedly pressed South Korea to withdraw THAAD. (Yonhap)