Kia Posts Best Sales Month Ever; May Sales Up 46 Percent Versus May 2000

    IRVINE, Calif., June 1 After posting its best sales month
ever in March with 19,159 vehicles sold, just two months later Kia tops that
with May sales totaling 20,048 units, a 46 percent increase over May 2000.
With year-to-date sales of more than 80,000 vehicles, Kia is well on its way
to reaching its 2001 sales goal of 200,000.
    All Kia models posted increases over last month's sales figures.  Kia's
flagship sedan, the Optima, sold 2,050 units and the Rio sub-compact sedan
sold 5,147.  The Sportage 2-door convertible posted record month sales with
650 units.  Once again the top-selling vehicle for the month was the Sephia
compact sedan with sales of 5,356.
    Kia Motors America is the U.S. sales, marketing and service arm of Kia
Motors Corp. in Seoul, South Korea.

                                 MONTH OF MAY               YEAR-TO-DATE
    Model                     2001          2000         2001          2000

    Optima                   2,050           n/a        8,883           n/a
    Rio                      5,147           n/a       22,109           n/a
    Sephia                   5,356         6,050       23,012        31,323
    Spectra                  1,806         1,312        7,713         1,635
    Sportage                 5,039         5,907       17,188        23,679
    Sportage 2-Door
     Convertible               650           440        1,540         1,758

    Total                   20,048        13,709       80,445        58,395