Kia Motors Ends Record-Breaking 2011 with 18.6% Increase in Global Sales

SEOUL, SOUTH KOREA – Jan 11, 2012: Kia Motors Corporation has announced that its global sales for passenger cars (export sales, domestic sales and sales from overseas plants), recreational vehicles (RVs) and commercial vehicles for 2011, reached an all-time high of 2,478,959 units, reinforcing Kia’s position as one of the world’s fastest growing automakers. This figure represents an annual year-on-year increase of 18.6% and marks the first time in the company’s history that it has eclipsed the 2.4 million unit sales mark.

By region, Kia posted year-on-year sales increases in North America (550,615 units, a 34.2% year-on-year increase), China (461,618 units sold, a 30.1% year-on-year increase), Europe (478,192 units, a 22.1% year-on-year increase)*, general markets (495,531 units sold, a 10.6% year-on-year increase)**, and Korea (493,003 units, a 1.8% year-on-year increase).

For the month of December 2011, strong sales growth was achieved in North America (46,809 units sold, a 39.8% year-on-year increase), China (47,143 units sold, a 37.9% year-on-year increase), Europe (36,619 units, a 17.4% year-on-year increase)** and general markets (39,070 units, a 5.1% year-on-year increase)*. Korea (45,056 units sold) saw a slight decrease in December year-on-year sales, falling by 0.4%.

Kia’s bestselling model in overseas markets in 2011 was the C-segment Cerato (known as ‘Forte’ in some markets) with 410,709 units sold. Kia’s Sportage compact CUV and B-segment Rio followed with 331,033 and 282,776 units sold, respectively. The Sorento mid-size CUV came in fourth with 220,783 units sold, while the Soul urban crossover vehicle rounded out the top five with 180,109 units sold.

“All of us at Kia Motors are encouraged to have ended 2011 by setting a new all-time global sales mark in excess of 2.4 million vehicles. In spite of a challenging global economic outlook, we look forward to maintaining our momentum in 2012 by satisfying customers thorough strengthened quality control from raw materials to completed vehicles while continuing to raise the stature of the Kia brand in all global markets,” commented Thomas Oh, Senior Executive Vice President & COO, Kia Motors Corporation.