Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's top automaker, and its sister firm Kia Motors Corp. lagged far behind Chinese rivals in the world's No. 1 auto market during the first seven months of the year, industry data showed Friday.

Hyundai Motor sold 564,389 units in the Chinese auto market in the January-July period, down 10.9 percent on-year, and Kia Motors suffered a 6.3 percent on-year drop in auto sales to 333,165 units in China over the cited period, according to the data.

In July alone, Hyundai Motor's sales there also dropped 32 percent on-year, with Kia logging a 33 percent plunge.

As a result, the firms accounted for 7.5 percent of the Chinese market, hovering below the around 10 percent share held in May.

In contrast, Chinese automakers have fared well on the back of their aggressive marketing and low-priced models.

Changan Automobile Co. garnered a 53.4 percent growth, with sales of around 446,000 units over the cited period, according to the data. Great Wall Motors, another Chinese player, also posted on-year growth of 31.2 percent to 394,000 units during the stated period.

"As Chinese carmakers are rolling out models costing less than half of those from global producers, it is harder for global automakers to compete," an industry official said. "Currently, nearly every overseas carmaker is struggling to cut costs there."

Other global carmakers were also victims of the rise of Chinese players, with Shanghai Volkswagen Automotive and Shanghai GM suffering a 25 percent and a 24 percent drop in sales on-year in July. (Yonhap)