2003 Kia Achieves 10th Consecutive Year of Record Sales
December Sales Up 27 Percent, Year-To-Date Revenues up 10 Percent
IRVINE, Calif., Jan. 6 -- Kia Motors America (KMA) today announced record sales numbers for the month of December, highlighting the company's tenth consecutive year of sales increases. With a 27 percent increase over the same month last year, the company sold 18,575 vehicles in December, bringing KMA's year-to-date sales to 237,471.
"We started off 2003 with the best January in our company's history and continued to grow throughout the year despite a lack of available inventory in the Fall," said Peter M. Butterfield, Kia president and chief executive officer. "This past year we successfully moved to a more upscale product mix, with more than half of our sales in the second half driven by Optima, Sedona and Sorento. While sales weren't as strong as they could have been due to low inventories, our revenues increased by approximately 10 percent thanks to the appeal of our new, larger products to a broader spectrum of American buyers."
Sedona minivan sales were up 30 percent as were the Optima sales. Sorento sales reached 40,779, representing one of the strongest new vehicle launches in KMA history.
Kia Motors America is the U.S. sales, marketing and service arm of Kia Motors Corp. in Seoul, South Korea.
MONTH OF DECEMBER YEAR-TO-DATE
Model 2003 2002 2003 2002
Optima 4,195 1,584 34,681 26,793
Rio 2,514 2,502 41,285 51,195
Sedona 4,310 2,185 50,628 39,088
Spectra 2,753 3,734 63,049 72,382
Sportage 28 1,904 5,616 39,436
Sorento 3,919 2,716 40,787 8,451
Amanti 856 N/A 1,425 N/A
Total 18,575 14,625 237,471 237,345
Total U.S. Sales of Kia Vehicles
1994 1995 1996 1997 1998
January 605 1,227 1,508 2,624 7,197
February 626 1,053 1,887 2,529 6,196
March 638 1,309 2,197 3,093 6,082
April 714 1,256 2,300 3,541 5,530
May 1,010 1,907 3,481 4,917 6,301
June 1,053 1,665 4,401 3,992 9,215
July 1,106 2,662 3,241 5,024 10,095
August 1,368 2,881 4,229 6,321 8,016
September 1,528 2,729 3,780 7,123 7,355
October 1,207 2,437 3,797 5,913 8,634
November 1,156 2,640 3,174 5,317 4,730
December 1,152 2,974 2,279 4,931 3,542
Total 12,163 24,740 36,274 55,325 82,893
1999 2000 2001 2002 2003
January 9,461 8,143 12,513 16,574 18,524
February 6,703 11,392 12,665 17,509 17,769
March 11,400 12,729 19,159 21,478 21,353
April 10,606 12,422 16,060 20,366 19,542
May 12,795 13,709 20,048 22,790 22,007
June 13,593 16,140 21,188 22,498 20,311
July 13,136 12,300 19,405 23,061 24,009
August 13,138 16,454 23,276 23,564 24,758
September 11,846 16,438 20,585 18,179 19,269
October 10,641 13,726 24,523 17,960 15,181
November 11,820 12,643 16,940 18,741 16,173
December 9,455 14,510 17,365 14,625 18,575
Total 134,594 160,606 223,727 237,345 237,471