South Korea's top automaker Hyundai Motor Co. and its smaller affiliate Kia Motors Corp. saw their sales rise more than 8 percent in five European countries last month, driven by its diversified product portfolio, despite Britain's vote in late June to exit the European Union, industry sources said Thursday.

The corporate duo sold a combined 50,069 units in the five key markets -- Germany, Britain, Italy, France and Spain -- last month, up 8.5 percent from a year earlier, according to the sources.


Hyundai Motor sold 26,360 vehicles in the countries last month, up 4.8 percent from a year earlier, while Kia Motors saw its sales jump 12.5 percent on-year to 24,249 units over the cited period, they said.

Their combined market share in the five countries edged up 0.6 percentage point from a year earlier to stand at 6.1 percent last month.

The two South Korean carmakers' better than expected sales figures came despite a 2-percent on-year dip in auto sales in the five countries to reach 834,566 units.

Sales in the five countries account for roughly 75 percent of overall vehicle sales in Europe.

A slump in auto sales in the European region has been widely expected following the Britain's decision to quit the EU.

Hyundai Motor said earlier that Europe's automobile market expanded 9.1 percent from a year earlier in the first half of the year, but that it was expected to grow only 0.7 percent in the remainder of the year due to worsened consumer and investor sentiment there following Britain's decision to end its EU membership. (Yonhap)