Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Corp. said Friday their combined sales in the United States fell 31 percent last month from a year earlier amid the prolonged chip shortage.

Hyundai and Kia sold 117,373 vehicles in the world's most important automobile market in May compared with 170,315 units a year ago, according to the companies' sales data.

Hyundai's sales plunged 34 percent to 59,432 units last month from 90,017 a year ago, while Kia's declined 28 percent to 57,941 from 80,298 during the same period, the data showed.

"We expect demand to remain strong and inventory levels to improve later in 2022," Senior Vice President Randy Parker, in charge of local sales at Hyundai Motor America, said in a statement.

With strong demand for the all-electric EV6 and the Sportage gasoline hybrid, the company expects to see momentum continue throughout the summer sales season, Vice President Eric Watson, in charge of sales operations at Kia America, said in another statement.

From January to May, the carmakers' sales in the US fell 15 percent to 548,974 autos from 644,695 during the same period of last year, the data showed.

Sales results of Hyundai's independent Genesis brand were not immediately available. (Yonhap)