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Kia Enjoying Red-Hot Sales Summer; Y-T-D Sales Increase 53 Percent

4 August 1999

Kia Enjoying Red-Hot Sales Summer; Y-T-D Sales Increase 53 Percent

    IRVINE, Calif., Aug. 3 -- Kia sales heated up an already hot
summer in July.  With sales of 13,136 units for the month, Kia sales were up
30 percent versus July 1998.  Despite short inventories of '99 models in many
areas, sales just narrowly fell short of last month's sales record.
    Sales of both the Sephia compact sedan and Sportage sport-utility vehicle
surged 28 percent above those of the same month last year, at 9,101 vehicles
and 3,602 vehicles, respectively.  The Kia Sportage 2-Door Convertible enjoyed
a 152 percent increase from last July with July 1999 sales of 433 units.
Kia's year-to-date sales through the first seven months of 1999 were
53 percent higher than in 1998.
    Kia Motors America is the sales, marketing and service arm of Kia Motors
Corp. in Seoul, South Korea.

                       MONTH OF JULY          YEAR-TO-DATE
                       1999      1998        1999       1998
    Model
    Sephia             9,101     7,112      49,221     35,010
    Sportage           3,602     2,811      25,218     15,434
    Sportage 2-Door
     Convertible         433       172       3,255        172

    Total             13,136    10,095      77,694     50,616