Hyundai Motor Group, which owns Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors, is expanding its presence in the North American market where the Korean auto giant led car sales in the small and mid-sized segments in July.

According to industry sources on Monday, Hyundai Motor sold 8,903 vehicles in the U.S. sub-compact segment in July, becoming the No. 1 car brand in the category for four consecutive months.

In both the compact and midsize segments, the carmaker delivered 34,791 and 34,295 vehicles, respectively, selling more cars than its Japanese rivals, which used to dominate the small car market in the U.S.

After a devastating earthquake last year, Japanese carmakers such as Toyota, Honda and Nissan have seen sales grow in recent months, with their U.S. sales increasing 26 percent, 45 percent and 16 percent in July compared to a year ago.

Despite fiercer competition from Japanese brands, Hyundai and Kia continued sales growth as well, selling a combined 110,095 cars last month, up 12 percent from the same period last year.

In Canada, Hyundai Motor also posted a new record in July sales of 12,850 units, while Kia Motors saw its market share jump from 4.5 percent in July last year to 5.2 percent this year.

“Despite constrained global supply, demand for Hyundai vehicles remains incredibly strong and has driven our company to record 43 consecutive months of year-on-year sales growth,” said Steve Kelleher, president and CEO of Hyundai Auto Canada Corp. in a press release.

“A number of vehicles were responsible for last month’s performance, including the Sonata mid-size, Tucson compact SUV, and the arrival of new vehicles such as the European-style Elantra GT 5-door and Elantra Coupe.”

Hyundai Avante, which is sold as the Elantra in Canada, sold 29,904 units in the first seven months of this year, becoming the second-most selling sedan next to the Honda Civic which sold 36,627 units.

Sales of the Kia Pride, which is sold as the Rio, also soared 85.8 percent from a year ago to reach 8,038 units in July.

By Lee Ji-yoon (jylee@heraldcorp.com)