Kia Motors posts growth in China, Korea in April

Kia Motors Corporation announced today that it has continued to gain market share in China, general markets and Korea posting sales growth of 39.3%, 13.1% and 5.8%, respectively.

By region, Kia posted year-on-year sales increases in China (18,169 units, a 39.3% year-on-year increase), general markets (23,902 units sold, a 13.1% year-on-year increase), and Korea (29,010 units sold, a 5.8% year-on-year increase).

Sales in the Middle East & Africa remained particularly strong in April with 15,462 units sold, representing a 39% year-on-year increase.

Cumulatively through the first four months of 2009, Kia's global sales increased in general markets, Korea and China.  General markets experienced the largest gain, selling 86,859 units to date representing an 18.1% increase, while the Korean and Chinese markets showed cumulative year-on-year sales increases of 6.5% (108,416 units sold) and 3.8% (54,545 units sold), respectively.

So far 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 65,727 units sold.  The B-segment Rio comes in second with 45,932 units sold, followed closely by the Sportage compact SUV with 43,443 units sold.  The C-segment cee'd and the A-segment Picanto round up the top five with 38,579 and 27,349 units sold, respectively.

In terms of vehicle category sold overseas, Kia's recreational vehicles achieved an increase of 3.6% year-on-year, selling 34,934 units in April.

Hyoung-Keun Lee, Senior Executive Vice President and COO of the International Business Division, Kia Motors Corporation, said, "Despite challenges within the automotive industry, Kia continued to see strong growth across multiple markets in April.  These results are promising indicators for the second quarter and the rest of the year, and we are confident we will continue to see gains with the full introduction of the Soul urban crossover and the all-new Cerato (known as 'Forte' in some markets)."