Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's top automaker, said on Monday it has lowered its sales target in China by 16 percent amid cut-throat competition in the world's second biggest car market.

Hyundai also cut prices of major sedans such as the Elantra and the Sonata by 6-13 percent to boost sales in the country, a Hyundai spokesman said.

Sales of Hyundai are slipping behind rivals as model launches have dried up and it has not cut prices fast enough to keep pace with the opposition.

Competitors including Volkswagen have thrived in China's soaring market, offsetting sluggish sales at home, while Hyundai has fallen to 10th largest auto maker in China now from 5th last year. China's booming economy has attracted the world's top carmakers, including General Motors, Toyota and Honda all keen to sell cars to an increasingly wealthy population.

"We lowered the sales target to 260,000 vehicles in China as it would be difficult to raise sales as expected amid fierce price and sales competition and as other auto makers kept cutting prices," Jake Jang, a Hyundai spokesman said.

Hyundai had previously aimed to sell 310,000 units this year in China.

The company sold 128,587 vehicles from its Chinese factory in the first seven months of the year, 18.2 percent down from a year ago.

Hyundai, which set up a Beijing plant in 2002, expects its second, a $1 billion factory on the outskirts of Beijing to come online next year. When both plants are working Hyundai's Chinese capacity will be 600,000 units, up from 300,000 currently.

Analysts say Hyundai's sales are unlikely to pick up until late next year, when the company hopes the new Elantra compact car and Sonata sedan, modified solely for China, will steer growth.

Shares in Hyundai rose 2.3 percent to 71,200 won by 0240 GMT, outperforming a 0.3 percent rise in the broader market.