South Korea’s top automaker Hyundai Motor Co. was the No. 2 seller of vehicles in the Russian imported car market last year, with its affiliate Kia Motors Corp. ranking fourth, industry data showed Sunday.

Hyundai Motor sold a total of 163,447 passenger cars and light commercial vehicles in the Russian market last year, trailing only General Motors Co., according to the data.

In the overall Russian car market, including foreign and domestic brands, Hyundai Motor placed third, after Russian carmaker AvtoVAZ and GM.

Kia Motors shipped 152,873 units to Russia last year, becoming the fourth-largest seller of imported vehicles and following French carmaker Renault.

The combined Russian market share of Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors, the flagships of world’s fifth-largest automaker Hyundai Motor Group, rose to 11.9 percent last year from 10 percent a year earlier, according to the data.

The Russian market for passengers cars and light commercial vehicles soared 39 percent on-year to 2.65 million vehicles last year, it added. 

(Yonhap News)