Hyundai Motor Co., Korea’s largest automaker, saw a great boost to its sales in China last month, becoming the third best-selling brand in the world’s largest market for automobiles, company officials said Monday.

The company sold 50,717 vehicles in China last month, up 36.7 percent from the same period last year.

The figure represents a near 30 percent drop from a month earlier when the company sold over 72,000 units, but its sales ranking moved up two notches to third place following Shanghai-Volkswagen and Shanghai-GM as overall automobile sales in China dropped in February, according to Hyundai officials.

Hyundai’s market share also rose 0.9 percentage point from 5.8 percent in January to 6.7 percent in February.

“Competition in China is becoming fiercer and fiercer as China has become the world’s largest automobile market,” a Hyundai official said.

Kia Motors Corp., Hyundai Motor’s smaller affiliate that together with Hyundai makes up the world’s fifth-largest automotive group Hyundai Motor Group, also saw a 4.2 percent sales increase in February from a year earlier.

The company sold 25,008 vehicles in China last month, becoming the ninth-largest automobile brand in China.

“Kia will seek to further increase its market share in China with new vehicles that will follow the recent launch of its mid-size sedan, the K5, there,” a company official said. 

(Yonhap News)