Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's No.1 automaker, said Friday its July sales moved up a solid 4.4 percent from a year earlier, helped by strong overseas demand and the popularity of its new models.

Company data showed 379,820 cars being sold overall last month, with domestic sales edging up 0.6 percent to 59,640. Overseas numbers moved up 5.2 percent to 320,180 cars.

On the domestic front, sales of the brand new Sonata LF totaled 10,035 units, making it the best seller in the carmaker's lineup.

It said sales of the premium Genesis sedan reached 3,047 units, while numbers for the Grandeur full-size, near-luxury sedan stood at 8,982 units, including the hybrid and diesel powertrain variants.

"The launch of new car models like the Sonata and Genesis contributed to sales gains last month," the company said in a statement.

It said domestic sales were helped by the low base effect caused by workers opting not to do overtime work last year, which hurt production.

For the January-July period, Hyundai said it sold 2,876,382 cars, up 4.4 percent from the year before, with overseas sales gaining 4.2 percent to 2,470,308 vehicles. Domestic sales were up 5.5 percent from a year earlier to 406,074 units in the period. (Yonhap)