Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. rose to No. 2 in market share in the U.S. hybrid vehicle sector last month, a U.S. eco car review website showed Sunday.
According to the website (www.hybridcars.com), the two Korean carmakers sold a combined 3,373 units of hybrid cars in the U.S. last month.
Hyundai sold 2,481 units of the Sonata hybrid, while Kia sold 892 units of the K5 hybrid.
Their combined market share in the U.S. stood at 10.4 percent last month, which is 0.3 percentage point higher than in September 2013 when it peaked at 10.1 percent.
This represented the second-largest share in the U.S., following Toyota. Hyundai and Kia surpassed Ford, which sold 3,057 hybrid vehicles, for the first time in 38 months.
The rise comes despite the overall slump in sales of hybrid vehicles, apparently affected by the prolonged low oil prices.
Hybrid vehicle sales in the U.S. dropped 17.9 percent on-year in April.
Market leader Toyota sold 21,346 hybrids in April, securing its market leading position. Its share in the U.S. stood at 65.9 percent last month. (Yonhap)
