South Korea's No. 1 automaker, Hyundai Motor Co., and its smaller affiliate Kia Motors Corp. sold more cars in January in Europe compared with a year ago, thanks to the growing popularity of Hyundai's new i20 models, data showed Wednesday.

Hyundai sold 33,197 cars in January, up 7.1 percent from the same period last year, with Kia selling 25,996 cars, up 5.5 percent, according to the data released by the European Automobile Manufacturers' Association (ACEA).

Their combined market share in the region stood at 5.8 percent in January, up 0.5 percentage point from 5.3 percent in December of 2014.

Meanwhile, the weakening of the Japanese yen against the U.S. dollar led to a rise in sales of cars manufactured by Japan's automakers in Europe last month, the data said.

Toyota's sales rose 8.5 percent on-year in January, while sales of Nissan and Mitsubishi grew 34.6 percent and 89.8 percent, respectively.

(Yonhap)