South Korea’s carmakers Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors held onto their shares of the world automotive market in the third quarter of this year despite the strengthening local currency and a global economic slowdown, industry data showed Sunday.

According to the data, Hyundai and Kia, the flagships of Hyundai Motor Group, sold a combined 1.89 million cars in the July-September period, up 2.7 percent from a year ago.

The figure accounted for 9 percent of the global automotive demand of 20.9 million estimated by world research firm LMC Automotive.

Their third-quarter market share represents a 0.1 percentage point drop from the second quarter’s 9.1 percent.

Hyundai took up 5.6 percent with 1.18 million cars sold in the three-month period, while its smaller affiliate Kia sold 712,000 units to take up 3.4 percent of the market.

Their combined market share had been on the decline since it hit 9 percent in the third quarter of 2013.

It dropped to 8.5 percent and 8.3 percent in the next two quarters before rebounding to 9.1 percent in the second quarter of this year on the back of the launch of new cars and expansion of production facilities.

Their cumulative share reached 8.8 percent as of end-September with 5.69 million cars sold throughout the year.

“Popular brands in Russia, Brazil and India prompted the growth in overseas sales,” said an official from Hyundai.

The official said the company will roll out the new Carnival minivan and the i20 mini car globally in the fourth quarter, and the new cars will help the company hold onto the 9 percent share this year. (Yonhap)