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Kia Motors America Announces 12th Consecutive Year of Record Sales

IRVINE, Calif., Jan. 4, 2006 -- Kia Motors America (KMA) today announced a record twelfth consecutive year of sales increases. Year-to-date sales for the company in 2005 totaled 275,851 units, 2.1-percent ahead of the record sales pace set in 2004. Both the Kia Spectra and Kia Sedona models sold more than 50,000 units in 2005, totaling 56,088 and 52,837 units respectively. December sales for KMA totaled 18,767, the second best for the same period in the last twelve years.

"Kia's continued sales growth over the last twelve years illustrates that we're a company on the move," said Len Hunt, executive vice president and COO of KMA. "And with the launches of the all-new 2006 Sedona and 2006.5 Optima just around the corner, more consumers will discover that our products are exciting and enabling as well as a great value."

Kia Motors America is the sales, marketing and distribution arm of Kia Motors Corp. in Seoul, South Korea. For more information, including photography, visit www.kiamedia.com.

                             MONTH OF DECEMBER            YEAR-TO-DATE
   Model                    2005         2004         2005         2004
   Optima                    998        5,428       41,349       53,492
   Rio                     2,776        1,609       30,290       38,518
   Sedona                  3,861        3,741       52,837       61,149
   Spectra                 2,916        2,878       56,088       44,004
   Sportage                2,681           56       29,009          120
   Sorento                 2,970        4,362       47,610       52,878
   Amanti                  2,565        2,034       18,668       19,894

   Total                  18,767       20,108      275,851      270,055

                       TOTAL U.S. SALES OF KIA VEHICLES

                    1994      1995      1996     1997    1998     1999

   January           605     1,227     1,508    2,624   7,197    9,461
   February          626     1,053     1,887    2,529   6,196    6,703
   March             638     1,309     2,197    3,093   6,082   11,400
   April             714     1,256     2,300    3,541   5,530   10,606
   May             1,010     1,907     3,481    4,917   6,301   12,795
   June            1,053     1,665     4,401    3,992   9,215   13,593
   July            1,106     2,662     3,241    5,024  10,095   13,136
   August          1,368     2,881     4,229    6,321   8,016   13,138
   September       1,528     2,729     3,780    7,123   7,355   11,846
   October         1,207     2,437     3,797    5,913   8,634   10,641
   November        1,156     2,640     3,174    5,317   4,730   11,820
   December        1,152     2,974     2,279    4,931   3,542    9,455

   Total          12,163    24,740    36,274   55,325  82,893  134,594

                    2000      2001      2002     2003    2004     2005

   January         8,143    12,513    16,574   18,524  17,029   17,154
   February       11,392    12,665    17,509   17,769  18,586   20,454
   March          12,729    19,159    21,478   21,353  23,769   25,722
   April          12,422    16,060    20,366   19,542  23,438   27,158
   May            13,709    20,048    22,790   22,007  25,443   25,503
   June           16,140    21,188    22,498   20,311  27,636   27,095
   July           12,300    19,405    23,061   24,009  23,637   26,052
   August         16,454    23,276    23,564   24,758  21,132   23,820
   September      16,438    20,585    18,179   19,269  23,001   23,404
   October        13,726    24,523    17,960   15,181  22,973   20,631
   November       12,643    16,940    18,741   16,173  23,303   20,091
   December       14,510    17,365    14,625   18,575  20,108   18,767

   Total         160,606   223,727   237,345  237,471 270,055  275,851