Hyundai Motor Co.'s deliveries in China jumped 25 percent year on year to 100,328 vehicles in May, helped by discounts on its Tucson compact crossover and a tax cut on vehicle purchases.

 

Deliveries were boosted by demand for the Tucson, the company said.

 

Hyundai has said it will cut costs at its plants in China and step up output of smaller cars and crossovers to take advantage of a tax cut in October. The automaker's dealers are offering discounts of as much as 11 percent in some cities in China on the Tucson, according to car-pricing website Cheshi.com.

 

Sales are still down for the first five months as South Korea's largest automaker struggles with the shift in buyer preferences away from traditional sedans such as the Elantra to roomier crossovers and SUVs.

 

Hyundai said in April that it had stabilized inventories and increased the utilization rate at its Chinese plants to 93.3 percent in the first quarter. It is building a fourth factory in the country.