The Auto Channel
The Largest Independent Automotive Research Resource
The Largest Independent Automotive Research Resource
Official Website of the New Car Buyer

Kia Motors Posts 24.4% Global Sales Growth In August


PHOTO (select to view enlarged photo)

SYDNEY – Sept 13, 2010: Kia Motors Corporation has announced its global sales figures for passenger cars (export sales, domestic sales and sales from overseas plants), recreational vehicles (RVs) and commercial vehicles for August 2010, recording a total of 173,703 units sold. This figure represents a year-on-year increase of 24.4%.

In August, Kia posted healthy year-on-year sales increases of 72.1% in general markets (42,400 units sold), 53.4% in Korea (38,620 units sold), 23.1% in China (26,792 units sold) and 20.7% in Europe** (27,996 units sold).

Cumulatively, through the first eight months of 2010, Kia’s global sales increased by 31.6% year-on-year, reaching 1,359,357 units. General markets and China have experienced the highest gains to date in 2010 of 59.5% (295,516 units sold) and 56.5% (221,474 units sold), respectively.

The remaining regions have all shown strong cumulative double digit year-on-year sales increases: 24.7% in Europe (254,917 units sold), 23.5% in Korea (311,909 units sold), and 10.7% in North America (275,541 units sold).

Kia’s best selling model in overseas markets for the month of August was the C-segment Cerato (known as ‘Forte’ in some markets) with 34,358 units sold. The B-segment Rio and Sportage compact CUV follow with 18,271 and 16,869 units sold, respectively. The Sorento mid-size CUV comes in fourth with 15,187 units sold and the Soul urban crossover vehicle rounds out the top five with 11,544 units sold.

In terms of vehicle category sold overseas, Kia’s recreational vehicles and passenger cars achieved year-on-year increases in August of 33.6% (52,337 units sold) and 4.7% (75,939 units sold), respectively.

Newly appointed Vice Chairman of Kia Motors Corporation, Hyoung-Keun Lee, said, “It is encouraging to see that on a global basis our sales have continued show a healthy year-on-year gain despite the summer months being a traditionally slow time for new vehicle sales. With both the all-new Sportage CUV and all-new Optima sedan for export markets having entered mass production in August, consumers in all regions of the world will continue to enjoy a new generation of products from Kia that can stand toe-to-toe with class leading offerings from our competitors.”