Automakers reach a record 8.6% share in global market

Korea’s automakers Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors expanded their combined share to a record high 8.6 percent in the global car market in the first nine months of the year thanks to steady sales, a U.S. marketing firm said yesterday.

Hyundai sold 3.21 million vehicles to attain 5.3 percent of the world market share in the January-September period, while its smaller affiliate Kia’s sales reached 2.03 million with a share of 3.3 percent, according to J.D. Power and Associates.

The companies’ combined market share was 8.6 percent, up 0.1 percentage point from the same period a year earlier, retaining the title of the world’s fifth-largest automaking group after General Motors, Volkswagen AG, Toyota Motor and Renault-Nissan Group.

Hyundai Motor Group rose to fifth place in the world market last year for the first time, with a share of 8.5 percent, beating Ford Motor based in the U.S.

Yonhap