Hyundai, Kia win iF Design Award in Europe

Hyundai Motor Co.'s i20 supermini and Kia Motors Corp.'s Sorento sport utility vehicle each were named winners for an international design award, the two companies said Tuesday.
  

The latest edition of the i20 hatchback from Hyundai won the 2015 International Forum Design Award in the product design segment, while Kia's midsize crossover SUV clinched the same prize under the transportation design segment, the carmakers said in a press release.
  

The award is a first for South Korea's top carmaker Hyundai, while for Kia, it marks the sixth consecutive year for the company to receive the iF recognition since its first win in 2010.
  

"(The awards) show that Hyundai and Kia are being recognized for our competitiveness in car designs in Europe," a company official said. "We will push to dig deeper into the European market, in which we expect auto sales to recover its pace this year."
  

Hyundai and Kia are corporate cousins sharing the same roof under Hyundai Motor Group, the world's fifth-largest maker of cars in terms of output.
  

The two automakers' combined market share in Europe was nudged out by competitors and slipped 0.2 percentage point on-year to stand at 6 percent in 2014 despite having sold more number of their cars in the same period, according to industry data. (Yonhap)