Kia Motors posts 24.1% increase in August global sales
Kia Motors Corporation announced today its global sales figures (export sales, domestic sales, and sales from overseas plants) for passenger cars, recreational vehicles (RVs), and commercial vehicles for August 2009, recording a total of 139,656 units sold. This figure represents a year-on-year increase of 24.1%.
By region, Kia posted year-on-year sales increases in China (21,770 units sold, a 104.9% year-on-year increase), North America (44,870 units sold, a 55.0% year-on-year increase) and Korea (25,184 units, an 8.1% year-on-year increase).
Cumulatively, through the first eight months of 2009, Kia’s global sales increased by 8.5% year-on-year and reached 1,032,572 units. The Chinese market experienced the highest gain with 141,513 units sold to date, representing a 39.4% increase. Korea, general markets, and North America showed cumulative year-on-year sales increases of 23.3% (252,519 units sold), 10.3% (185,223 units sold) and 4.9% (248,838 units sold), respectively.
To date in 2009, Kia’s best selling model in overseas markets has been the C-segment Cerato (known as ‘Spectra’ or ‘Forte’ in some markets) with 180,184 units sold. Kia’s Sportage compact SUV and the B-segment Rio followed closely with 111,868 and 108,760 units sold, respectively. The C-segment cee’d takes fourth place with 80,705 units sold, while the Picanto completes the top five with 62,590 units sold.
In terms of vehicle category sold overseas, Kia’s recreational and passenger vehicles achieved year-on-year increases in August of 31.1% (39,183 units) and 30.2% (72,549 units), respectively.
Hyoung-Keun Lee, President of Kia Motors Corporation, said that in August they had already surpassed the million unit global sales mark.