Overseas production of South Korea‘s Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. is likely to exceed 4 million units for the first time this year, industry data showed Friday.

According to the data by the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association, the number of vehicles made by the country’s two leading automakers rose 13.7 percent to 3.78 million units in the January-November period from a year ago.

The figure has already outpaced their previous year‘s overseas production of 3.64 million units.

Market watchers attributed the growth to the aggressive overseas marketing activities by Hyundai and Kia and their plant expansions in foreign countries.

Hyundai started operating its Brazilian plant, built in November last year, from the beginning of this year, and its third Chinese plant from July. The Brazilian plant, built with an annual production capacity of 150,000 units, produced more than 157,000 in the first 11 months, while Hyundai’s three Chinese plants manufactured about 938,000 units, up 22.8 percent from a year earlier. (Yonhap News)