Hyundai Motor Group said Sunday that environment-friendly vehicles topped 10 percent of its global car sales for the first time this year amid growing demand for electric cars.

The country's top automotive conglomerate said its two carmakers, Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp., sold a total of 656,479 eco-friendly vehicles globally in the January-November period, 10.7 percent of their entire sales of 6.12 million units.

The growth marks a sharp increase from 2015, when the annual sales of such cars accounted for merely 1 percent of Hyundai and Kia's car sales, the group data showed.

In the same 11-month period, the number of eco-friendly cars sold by Hyundai and Kia jumped 45.3 percent from a year ago, much higher than the 6.3 percent on-year increase of their total car sales.

Hyundai Motor Group said the rise of electric cars was notable in its global performance this year.

Within the eco-friendly segment, hybrid vehicles accounted for the largest proportion of sales at 49.9 percent in the January-November period, followed by electric cars at 34.2 percent.

The proportion of electric cars grew from 21.1 percent in 2018 and 35.5 percent in 2020.

In contrast, the proportion of hybrid cars fell to 52.3 percent in 2020 from 66.9 percent in 2018.

Next year, Hyundai Motor and Kia are set to roll out a handful of electric vehicles to meet the rising demand for electric cars: the GV60, an electric version of the GV70, the Nero EV and the Ioniq 6.   

Global carmakers have been racing to go electric amid tightened regulations on emissions of greenhouse gases, which scientists say are to blame for global warming. (Yonhap)