The Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group saw peak sales of 105,065 cars in the U.S. market last month to cap five straight months where sales had exceeded the 100,000 benchmark. Its July sales figure in the U.S. marked an on-year rise of 17 percent.

For its part, Hyundai Motor America sold 59,561 vehicles in July to mark a 10-percent increase in annualized terms prompted by brisk sales of the Sonata midsize sedan (2,884) and the Elantra compact car (15,181), it said Tuesday. The Santa Fe SUV was another hot seller with 8,119 units snapped up.

Kia sold 45,504 vehicles in the same month to rack up a 29 percent jump from 2010, Kia Motor America said. The Sorento SUV posted record monthly sales of 13,262 units, while the Soul compact continued to sell more than 10,000 units for the fifth consecutive month, and the midsize sedan Optima sold 6,772 units.

Hyundai-Kia's U.S. market share was 9.9 percent, the same as in June. It sold a total of 672,966 vehicles in the U.S. from January to July, up 31 percent from a year earlier. Sales increased 23 percent to 382,358 units for Hyundai and 41 percent to 290,608 for Kia.