Hyundai, Kia's eco-friendly car sales in S. Korea surge 39% in H1

Hyundai Motor Group's eco-friendly vehicle sales in South Korea jumped nearly 40 percent in the first half of this year compared with a year earlier on strong demand for hybrid models and new electric vehicles, its sales data showed Sunday.

The combined domestic sales of eco-friendly models by the Korean automotive group's two affiliates -- Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp. -- stood at 94,435 units in the January-June period, up from 67,798 units a year ago, according to their sales data.

Among them, 65,473 units were hybrid models, which use a combination of an internal combustion engine and a battery electric drive motor.

Other eco-friendly models include electric vehicles (EV) and fuel cell electric vehicles (FCEV) powered by hydrogen.

Hyundai's domestic sales of eco-friendly cars soared 35.5 percent on-year to 51,085 units in the first half as it released a wider range of hybrid variants and the all-electric Ioniq 5 in April.

Hyundai sold 30,986 hybrid models, 15,683 EVs and 4,415 FCEVs in the domestic market over the period.

Kia's eco-friendly car sales jumped 44 percent on-year to 43,350 units in the first six months of the year, also driven by robust demand for hybrid models.

Kia sold 34,487 hybrid models and 8,863 EVs over the period.

Among them, Kia's Sorento SUV hybrid variant was the top-selling eco-friendly vehicle in the nation, data showed. (Yonhap)