Hyundai Motor Co. and its smaller affiliate Kia Motors have together ranked fourth in the world in sales of environmentally friendly vehicles.

The conjoined automobile makers sold a total of 73,746 eco-friendly cars last year, including 64,533 hybrids, 8,712 electric vehicles, 256 fuel cell vehicles and 245 plug-in hybrid cars. Such sales are at an all-time high.

These record-setting figures put the two carmakers in fourth place in terms of green car sales worldwide, following Japan’s Toyota in first place with sales of 987,000 units, runner-up Honda with 217,000 units and Renault-Nissan with 74,000 cars. The Korean car brands even outperformed the U.S.’ Ford Motor Co.



Sales of Hyundai and Kia green cars have increased year-by-year, with about 30,600 units sold in 2011, more than 63,000 in 2012 and more than 64,000 in 2013.

The professional services company KPMG International, too, predicted the carmakers’ future growth potential on the global market. On Jan. 18, it predicted that Hyundai and Kia would potentially be in fourth place in the global market.

In the KPMG Global Automotive Executive Survey 2016, the two Korean carmakers had the fourth highest growth potential in the global automobile market, following Toyota, BMW and Volkswagen. The auditor said that the two automakers’ launch of a series of eco-friendly and high-quality cars across North America will help them gain huge momentum for growth in the global market.



By Sohn JiAe
Korea.net Staff Writer
Photos: Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors
jiae5853@korea.kr