Kia Motors Plans To Launch New Luxury Sedan In March

SEOUL February 19, 2003; Dow Jones reported that South Korea's Kia Motors Corp. will launch a new luxury sedan, Opirus, in the domestic market in March and plans to export to Europe and the U.S. later this year, said the company in a disclosure to the Korea Stock Exchange Wednesday.

It plans to introduce the model in Europe in June and in the U.S. in October.

Kia Motors aims to sell 35,000 Opirus units in South Korea this year, which would account for 30% of the domestic large-sized automobile market.

The 2003 export target for the new model is set at 25,000 units, Kia said.

Kia Motors is the second largest automobile manufacturer in South Korea and an affiliate of Hyundai Motor Co. (Q.HMC), the country's largest.