Their combined sales stood at 137,412 vehicles in February - 71,407 units for Hyundai and 66,005 for Kia - up about 5.7 percent and 4.3 percent, respectively, from a year earlier.
Hyundai posted its best-ever sales for the month, extending a streak of monthly records for the third straight month since last December.
Strong demand for SUVs drove the sales, with the Palisade seeing an increase of 28.4 percent to 10,025 units and the Santa Fe rising 18.6 percent to 11,344 units.
Sales of Kia's midsize Telluride jumped 68.7 percent to 13,198 units, followed by the K5 with 6,053 units and the Carnival with 5,805 units.
Sales of Hyundai's luxury brand Genesis also increased 3.3 percent to 5,730 units, with the GV70 leading the lineup with 2,628 units.
Some 34,855 electric and other eco-friendly vehicles were sold, with sales surging 34.7 percent from a year earlier to account for about 25.6 percent of total sales.
Meanwhile, Japanese automaker Toyota remained at the top after selling some 180,950 vehicles in the U.S. in February.
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