South Korea's top automaker Hyundai Motor Co. said Thursday its global sales gained 1.5 percent from a year earlier in February, helped by a sharp rise in domestic sales.

The automaker sold 341,345 cars globally in February, compared to 336,200 cars sold in the same month last year, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Domestic sales jumped 8.7 percent on-year to 53,113 cars, while overseas sales inched up 0.3 percent to 288,232 vehicles.

Hyundai Motor attributed the sharp increase in sales here to the launch of the new Grandeur sedan, which sold 10,913 units in February.

"Also, the new Grandeur has sold more than 10,000 units for the third consecutive month since its launch in December," the company said in a press release.

In the January-February period, the South Korean automaker sold 683,993 cars throughout the world, up 1.4 percent from the same period in 2016.

Domestic sales slipped 0.5 percent on-year to 98,213 units, but overseas sales rose 1.7 percent to 585,780 cars, offsetting the slight drop in sales here.

Shares of Hyundai Motor closed at 148,500 won on the Seoul bourse, down 0.67 percent from the previous session's close. The monthly sales figures were released after the stock market closed. (Yonhap)