Kia Records Best Sales Month Ever; August Sales Up 41 Percent Versus Year Ago

    IRVINE, Calif., Sept. 4 Kia today announced its best sales
month ever with 23,276 vehicles sold in August, marking a 41-percent increase
over August 2000.  With year-to-date sales of 144,314, the Korean carmaker is
40 percent ahead of last year's record sales pace.
    
Among Kia models, the Sephia compact sedan continued to lead the pack with
5,698 August sales, while the Sportage sport-utility vehicle and Rio
subcompact sedan continued their strong performances with 4,059 and
4,911 units sold, respectively.  The all-new Sedona minivan got off to a
rousing start with 3,725 sales in its first full month in the marketplace.
   
 Kia Motors America is the U.S. sales, marketing and service arm of
Kia Motors Corp. in Seoul, South Korea.


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

    Optima                      2,451          n/a       15,376         n/a
    Rio                         4,911        3,344       36,093       3,982
    Sedona                      3,725          n/a        5,182         n/a
    Sephia                      5,698        6,259       38,679      50,230
    Spectra                     2,163        1,508       15,121       5,719
    Sportage                    4,059        4,995       31,031      40,373
    Sportage 2-Door
     Convertible                  269          348        2,832       2,985

    Total                      23,276       16,454      144,314     103,289