This marked the first time that their combined sales surpassed the 900,000 mark there.

Hyundai saw its sales in Europe grow 7.5 percent on-year to 505,396 units last year, while Kia's sales expanded 13.1 percent to 435,316 units there, the data showed.

The brisk sales put their combined market share in Europe at 6.2 percent last year, also up 0.2 percentage point from the previous year.

Kia's Sportage SUV was the best-selling model among their product line-up with 138,734 units sold, followed by the Ceed with 77,787 units and the Pride with 68,580, the data showed.  

Despite the emission-manipulation scandal, Volkswagen still ranked first in Europe by selling about 3.64 million cars, followed by Renault with 1.52 million units and Peugeot whose sales came to some 1.47 million units, the data showed.

Last year, total auto sales in Europe expanded 6.5 percent to 15.13 million units from a year earlier, according to the data. (Yonhap)