South Korea’s leading carmakers Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. ranked fourth in the British automobile market last year on the back of brisk sales, industry data showed Monday.

According to the data, their combined sales soared 20.9 percent on-year to 140,914 vehicles in 2011 from 116,515 units sold a year earlier.

The market share of Hyundai and Kia, the flagship companies of Hyundai Motor Group, climbed one notch to fourth place with 6.89 percent, beating Germany’s BMW AG with 127,530 units sold, the data added.

Officials from Hyundai Motor Group said their popular models of the i30 compact and the Cee’d led the sales increase in Britain last year.

“We focused our marketing on smaller cars and offered various installment programs to buyers. These efforts appealed to British customers in the midst of the widespread financial crisis in Europe,” said a group official.

Car sales in Britain rose 5.3 percent on-year to 2.04 million vehicles last year, becoming the second-biggest car market in Europe after Germany with 3.08 million. Ford Motor Co. topped the list with 281,917 units, followed by Vauxhall Motor, the British unit of General Motors Co., with 232,255 and Volkswagen AG with 183,098. (Yonhap News)