Hyundai Motor’s new Tucson SUV.

Kia Motors’ new Sportage SUV.

Hyundai Motor’s ix20 model produced in Europe. (Photos: Hyundai and Kia Motors)

Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors are expected to ship 1 million cars combined this year to Europe for the first time, with the Tucson and the Sportage leading the increase in the sales. The two SUV models in the Jan.-Aug. period sold 100,000 units each.

The Hyundai Tucson is a crossover that has improved immensely over time. With generous warranties, bold styling, and affordable pricing, the Tucson continues to challenge more popular competitors such as the Honda CR-V, Toyota RAV4, and Ford Escape.

For the 2010 model, Hyundai completely redesigned the Tucson with an all-new look and more fuel-efficient powertrain choices.

The Kia Sportage has never been one for small evolutionary changes. Originally a cheap unit, today's Sportage is a stylish, well-rounded compact crossover. The Sportage is now in its fourth generation.

The Kia Sportage is a five-passenger compact SUV offered in three trim levels: LX, EX and SX Turbo. The LX and EX models come with a 2.4-liter four-cylinder engine rated at 181 horsepower and 175 pound-feet of torque. The SX Turbo gets a turbocharged 2.0-liter four-cylinder rated at 240 hp and 260 lb-ft. Both engines pair with a six-speed automatic transmission. All-wheel drive is optional.

According to ACEA, the two Korean carmakers sold 715,050 card in the first eight months this year, up 8 percent YoY with the sales of Hyundai Motor cars totaling 378,834, up 9.8 percent YoY and Kia Motors logging 336,216 units in sales, up 5.9 percent YoY, showing that the sales of the two car makers this year would reach 1 million units this year if the current trend in sales continues throughout the rest of the year.

The two Korean automakers sold 995,383 cars last year in Europe and this year, the sales would come to around 1.07 million cars if the current sales trend upholds until the end of the year.

Kia Motors set up its European sales headquarters in 1995 and Hyundai Motor set up its sales head office in 2000 and sales of their cars in the European market took off since then.

Thomas Schmidt, Chief Operation Officer for Hyundai Motor in Europe, said if the current sales trend continues, the automaker’s sales for the year would be up around 4 percent YoY, logging the best annual sales record for the year. In 2008, the two Korean car makers share in the European car market stood at 3.4 percent, but it jumped to 6.4 percent this year with sales from Jan. to Aug. ranked the 5th largest in the market ahead of other non-European carmakers such as Ford, Toyota and Nissan.

Experts point out the steady localization by the two Asian carmakers for the success, with Kia setting up its local car plant in Slovakia in 2007 while Hyundai followed with its car plant in Czech the following year.

They also set up their own R&D centers and launched independent units to take charge of such key areas of the auto business as style, design, production, marketing and after-service.

The Ceed hatchback and “ix20,” a multi-purpose car models, have been locally designed and produced to appeal to local demands for style and design, among others in Central European countries.

The “N” series models, a high-capacity passenger car models that both Hyundai and Kia developed at its regional car plants were geared to appeal to the local tastes for passenger sedans and which did well so far to boost the car sales in the Central European countries.