Fifty-eight years since they were founded, Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors have sold a total of over 130 million vehicles as of last month, latest data showed last week.

The accumulated number of vehicles sold at home and abroad by Hyundai posted 83,120,000, while sales of its affiliate Kia topped 47,210,000.

Hyundai was founded in 1967 and released its first ingenious vehicle Pony in 1976.

Kia began producing three-wheeled K360 in 1962 in collaboration with Toyo Kogyo, which later changed its name to Mazda. Hyundai acquired Kia to create Hyundai Motor Group in 2000.

Avante was Hyundai’s top-selling brand -- since its launch in 1990, it recorded sales of 13,760,000. For Kia, Sportage, which was first launched in 1992, generated sales of 5,850,000 units.

(khnews@heraldcorp.com)