Hyundai Motor Co. and its smaller affiliate Kia Motors Corp. saw their sales in China continue to rebound from a deep trough on the back of firm demand for sports utility vehicles and new models, industry data showed Wednesday.

The two leading South Korean carmakers sold a total of 180,159 vehicles in China last month, up 11.5 percent from a year earlier, according to the data.

Their sales in China grew on-month for the first time in six months in October with a 4.7-percent rise following an 11-percent drop in September.

Hyundai Motor sold 110,094 cars last month in China, an 11.2 percent increase from a year earlier, while Kia Motors saw its sales jump 12.1 percent to 70,065 units, the data showed.

The continued rebound was attributed to brisk sales of newly launched models such as the Tucson and Sonata by Hyundai Motor and the new edition of the K5 by Kia Motors.

They expect that their China sales will likely improve further down the road, vowing to ramp up marketing efforts there.

Their cumulative sales in China for this year still remained stagnant. During the January-November period, the two sold around 1.46 million units, down 7.5 percent from a year earlier. (Yonhap)