Hyundai Motor Co. said Sunday it will begin the sale of the GV80 SUV under its independent Genesis brand in the United States within this year to support sales despite the coronavirus outbreak.

Hyundai launched the GV80 SUV in South Korea in January and plans to introduce the first SUV model with the Genesis badge in the US as well as other markets such as Australia, Russia and the Middle East in the fourth quarter, a company spokesman said over the phone.

The maker of the Sonata sedan and the Palisade SUV has already received more than 20,000 preorders for the GV80 in the US, the world's most important automobile market.

From January to October, Hyundai's US sales fell 11 percent to 500,820 vehicles from 563,450 units in the same period of last year. Hyundai has yet to release Genesis vehicle sales in the US for the same period.

Hyundai sold 21,000 Genesis vehicles in the US last year.

Its overall sales fell 18 percent to 2,991,101 autos in the first 10 months from 3,632,381 in the year-ago period due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on vehicle production and sales. (Yonhap)