The overseas shipments of cars manufactured by Hyundai Motor and its sister company Kia Motors have broken the 50 million mark, Hyundai Motor Group said Monday.

The feat came just short of four decades after Hyundai shipped Pony, the first Korean-made car, to Ecuador, and Kia exported its signature Brisa pickups, both in the mid-1970s. 

The record was reached as of Sunday after the carmakers loaded several of their top-selling cars including the Tucson ix, Avante, i30 and Genesis to be shipped to the U.S.

In 2001, Hyundai and Kia had exported a record 10 million units. Just five years later in 2006, the company broke a new record by shipping 20 million cars.

Then in 2009, 30 million cars were sold, and 40 million in 2011. In the less than two years since then, the company has sold 50 million units, equal to one car for every person in Korea.

Hyundai Motor Group, following Hyundai’s purchase of Kia in 1998, currently stands as the world’s fifth-largest carmaker in terms of sales. In Asia, it’s the second-largest following Toyota, while in Korea, it’s at No. 1.

China, which imported some 1.33 million Hyundai-made cars last year, is the carmaker’s largest overseas destination, followed by the U.S. to which Hyundai shipped some 1.26 million vehicles.

By Kim Ji-hyun  (jemmie@heraldcorp.com)