Hyundai Motor Co. and its affiliate Kia Corp. said Friday their combined sales in the United States rose 18 percent last month from a year earlier despite the prolonged global chip shortage.

Hyundai and Kia sold 130,424 vehicles in the world's most important automobile market in August, up from 110,209 units a year ago, according to the companies' sales data.

Hyundai's sales climbed 14 percent to 64,335 units last month from 56,200 a year ago, while Kia's jumped 22 percent to 66,089 from 54,009 during the same period, the data showed.

"In light of ongoing supply challenges across the industry, achieving a best-ever August sales performance is a testament to the strength of our product lineup, our dealers and our employees," Eric Watson, vice president in charge of sales operations at Kia America, said.

He expected vehicle production to improve, and improved production will boost demand for Kia's all-new Sportage SUV, all-electric EV6 SUV and upcoming redesigned Telluride SUV through the end of this year.

From January to August, the carmakers' sales in the US fell 10 percent to 930,711 autos from 1,034,454 during the same period of last year, the data showed.

Hyundai's sales fell 12 percent on-year to 468,833 units in the first eight months, while Kia's declined 8.1 percent to 461,878 from 502,619 during the same period.

Sales results of Hyundai's independent Genesis brand were not immediately available. (Yonhap)