Hyundai Motor and its affiliate Kia Motors have been successful in expanding their market share in China, taking 9.7 percent of the market between January and August.

The companies, ranked third in the Chinese market, have the short-term goal of overtaking General Motors which posted an 11.2 percent market share during the same period.

According to data held by automobile manufacturers in China, Hyundai-Kia recorded 10.8 percent in combined market share in August ― 6.9 percent for Hyundai and 3.9 percent for Kia.

With the robust sales performance in August, their combined share for the first eight months approached 10 percent (9.7 percent).

Hyundai sold a total of 478,525 units during that period, up 9.4 percent from the same period last year, and Kia Motors saw its sales jump 23.7 percent to 257,166 units.

Their performance was attributable to growing popularity of new models such as Kia’s K2 (dubbed Pride Hatchback in China) and Hyundai’s Verna (dubbed Accent in China).

Kia and Hyundai posted the record-high sales of the K2 and the Verna last month with 7,556 units and 12,161 units, respectively.

Sales for Kia’s K5 and Hyundai’s YF Sonata came to 3,502 units and 7,005 units, posting the monthly high figure.

In 2010, Hyundai-Kia saw their sales come in at 1.1 million units in China, up 28.2 percent from a year earlier.

Hyundai was fourth with about 700,000 units sold in China while Kia came 13th with 330,000 units.

Volkswagen has been securing the top position in China with market share of 18.6 percent for the first eight months of 2011.

Hyundai-Kia spokespeople said they believe the new releases and their localized marketing strategies will continue to boost sales, allowing both companies to capture 10 percent of the market this year.

“China is becoming the most important market that could decide the very fate of Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors,” a group executive said.

By Kim Yon-se (kys@heraldcorp.com)