Hyundai Motor Group’s U.S. sales hit annual high in Oct.

Hyundai Motor’s TUCSON. (Hyundai Motor Group)

South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group saw its on-year sales soar by more than 17 percent in October in the United States, marking the highest monthly sales this year.

According to Hyundai Motor Group on Monday, it sold 147,613 vehicles in the U.S. in October. Hyundai Motor Co. sold 78,705 cars, including the Genesis brand, and Kia Corp. sold 68,908 units.

Hyundai Motor’s sales jumped 18.3 percent in October from the same month a year ago while those of Genesis increased 16.5 percent and Kia 20.6 percent.

With U.S.-born brands excluded, Hyundai Motor Group remains second to Toyota Motor in U.S. sales. Toyota sold 185,929 vehicles in North America in October, putting it just over 38,000 units ahead of Hyundai Motor Group.

Strong sales were led by high demand for green cars.

Hyundai Motor and Kia sold 31,668 environmentally-friendly vehicles in October, up 52 percent from a year ago.

Sales of hybrid vehicles, in particular, rose 64.9 percent to 21,679 units during the same period.

Sales of pure EVs rose 30.3 percent in October, with those of Hyundai Motor’s Ioniq 5 jumping 51 percent.

Kia sold 1,941 units of EV9, which began sales this year.

Industry analysts noted that the growth comes amid generous incentives offered by the automaker in the U.S.