Korean Automakers Edge up in Global Green Car Market

Hyundai and Kia overtook Ford to become the world's fourth largest manufacturer in terms of eco-friendly cars last year.

According to figures released on Tuesday by the Korea Automotive Research Institute, the combined sales of the Korean automakers reached over 74,000 units last year, up 4.9 percent from a year earlier.

In particular, the hybrid version of Hyundai's Sonata midsize sedan led the brisk sales, and Kia also sold around 9,000 units of the Soul EV since its launch in May 2014, an over 4-fold increase from the previous year.

Toyota topped the market, selling over 1.08 million eco-friendly cars. Honda came in second with 273,000 cars, followed by Renault-Nissan with 231,000 cars. Ford saw its sales volume dip by 21.5 percent to 68,000 cars and fell to fifth place.

Total global sales of green cars stood at 1.99 million last year, up 2.1 percent on-year.