Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. saw their combined market share in the United States drop to an eight-year low, as their sales fell more than 10 percent in the first nine months of the year, industry data showed Sunday.

The two leading automakers in South Korea sold 969,670 cars in the United States over the January-September period, down 10.2 percent from a year earlier.

Their market share fell 0.7 percentage point on-year to 7.5 percent, marking its lowest level since 2009, when it hit 7 percent.

Hyundai and Kia are the flagship companies of the world's fifth-largest automaker Hyundai Motor Group.

Their sales in China also plunged 41.6 percent during the same period, hit hard by a diplomatic row over the deployment of a US missile defense system in South Korea.

Their combined sales in their biggest export market tumbled to 702,017 units, compared with 1.2 million units sold over the same period last year. (Yonhap)