Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors sold a combined 111,406 units in the United States last month, up roughly 3.5 percent on-year on the back of strong sales of sport utility vehicles in the overall US auto market, the company said Wednesday.

Of the total, Hyundai’s luxury sedan brand Genesis accounted for 613 units.

By carmaker, Hyundai Motor sold 57,542 units last month, up 6 percent, the company said. The Avante compact car was the No. 1 seller with 14,502 units, followed by the midsize SUV Tucson with 11,559 units and the Sante Fe SUV with 11,347 units.

Kia Motors’ sales rose 1 percent in the cited period, totaling 53,864 units, out of which 11,995 consisted of SUV Sorentos.

The two local carmakers sold a total 48,909 SUVs there last month, a 25.9 percent on-year jump, the company said.

The increase in SUV sales is partly due to a swing in customer preference seen across the US auto industry, in favor of bigger vehicles.

Ford, the No. 2 seller in the US, flagged 78,809 SUV sales there in August, up 20.1 percent on-year, and the number of pickup trucks sold also increased 5.7 percent.

Ford’s rival, the Japanese carmaker Toyota, saw success with its SUV, crossover and pickup vehicles, for which the collective sales performance increased 7.4 percent, the company said.

“Last month Hyundai and Kia were able to post a sales hike due to (increased) sales of (the) Veloster, released in May, and SUV models,” a Hyundai spokesperson said.

Touching on the looming US auto tax, he added, “If the US government (imposes a) tax on import cars and auto parts, we expect customers to feel the (effects). This will inevitably have a negative impact on the overall auto industry.” 

By Kim Bo-gyung (lisakim425@heraldcorp.com)