The Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group has been named the fifth biggest car manufacturer in the world.

With global sales of 3,961,629, Hyundai-Kia has shot up six places in eight years, according to Automotive News' 2008 Global Data Book published yesterday. Hyundai-Kia is now positioned above Honda, Nissan, PSA Peugeot Citroen, Chrysler and Fiat.

Ik-Hwan Kim, vice-chairman and CEO of Kia Motors, said: "We are extremely proud of having achieved this goal in such a short period of time.

"We have been stressing the value of our products over the last few years and our efforts have not gone unnoticed by the public or the industry, neither quantitatively or qualitatively."

Kim said Kia would be focussing on producing a new generation of vehicles to keep the momentum of the brand going.

2007 global sales rankings