SEOUL, KOREA - GM of the United States decided to sell Chevrolet Trax in China in which the demand for SUVs is growing rapidly. Chevrolet Trax, accordingly, is expected to compete with Hyundai Motor’s small SUV ix25 which is scheduled to be released in China within the third quarter of this year.

Shanghai GM, a Chinese joint venture between GM and SAIC Motor Corp., plans to display the Trax at the Beijing Motor Show (2014 Auto China) and start selling it sooner or later there.

A GM Korea official said, “The Trax which will be sold in China is not the one produced at GM’s Korean factory but the one produced at GM’s local plant.”

Hyundai Motor has aggressively promoted its ix 25 at the Beijing Motor Show. By using Kim Soo-Hyun, a famous Korean actor, as an advertising model, Hyundai Motor kick-started local marketing to promote the ix 25 there.

The annual sales of SUVs in China marked a robust year-to-year growth of 49 percent last year to about 3 million units and are expected to reach 7 million units by 2020.