Korea’s top carmaker Hyundai Motor Co. became the best-selling Asian car brand in the competitive German market last year, edging out Japan’s Toyota Motor Corp., industry data showed Wednesday.

Hyundai Motor sold 86,866 vehicles in Germany in 2011, while Toyota sold 83,204 cars, according to the German international manufacturing group VDIK.

The sale of Hyundai Motor jumped 16.9 percent last year from 74,287 vehicles a year ago to surpass Toyota for the first time since it made inroads into the German market in 1999.

The South Korean brand’s market share in the European country also went up 0.2 percentage point to 2.7 percent last year, ranking 10th overall in the German market after U.S. and European carmakers, the VDIK showed.

Hyundai Motor’s smaller affiliate Kia Motors Corp. sold 42,065 vehicles last year, up 14.9 percent from the previous year, it said.

The company had set up exclusive sales distributors in Germany late last year to expand its market presence, with new vehicle models such as the i30 and i40 gaining popularity in the country.

The German automobile market, meanwhile, grew 8.8 percent last year, with 3.17 million vehicles sold, according to the VDIK. (Yonhap News)