Hyundai Motor Co. and its smaller affiliate Kia Motors Corp. logged the largest annual sales ever in Europe last year with their combined market share topping 6 percent, industry data showed Tuesday.

According to data by a European automobile association, the two South Korean carmakers sold 854,920 cars in Europe last year, up 9.9 percent from a year earlier.

This marked the first time that their combined sales have surpassed the 800,000 mark there.

Hyundai saw its sales grow 10.9 percent on-year to 470,130 units, while Kia's sales there expanded 8.8 percent to 384,790 units, the data showed.

The brisk sales put their combined market share in Europe at 6.02 percent.

Despite the months-long emission-manipulation scandal, Volkswagen still ranked in Europe by selling about 3.52 million cars there, followed by Peugeot whose sales came to some 1.48 million units, the data showed.

Last year, total auto sales in Europe expanded 9.2 percent to 14.2 million units from a year earlier, the largest since 2009 when 14.5 million vehicles were sold, according to the data. (Yonhap)