Kia Motors posts 6.9% global sales growth in April

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 April 2012, recording a total of 229,643 units sold. This figure represents a year-on-year increase of 6.9%.

In April, Kia posted year-on-year sales increases in all regions of the world with the exception of Kia’s home market of Korea – 22.0% in Europe 49,591 units sold; 17.3% in China 40,525 units sold; 3.2% in North America 55,560 units sold; 1.6% in general markets 43,962 units sold; and a 5.9% decrease in 40,005 units sold in Korea.

Cumulatively, since January 2012, Kia’s global sales have increased by 11.0% year-on-year to reach 886,041 units. Europe and North America have experienced the highest cumulative gains to date in 2012 of 25% 178,252 units sold and 22.1% 208,666 units sold, respectively.

Kia’s best selling model in overseas markets for the month of April was the B-segment Rio known as ‘K2’ in China with 42,854 units sold. The Sportage compact CUV was the second best seller with 29,898 units delivered, while the C-segment Cerato known as Forte in some markets, D-segment Optima sedan and Sorento mid-size CUV followed with 28,618, 20,886 and 17,977 units sold, respectively.

Tae-Hyun Thomas Oh, Executive Vice President & COO of Kia Motors Corporation., said: “Coming off the heels of our recent announcement of all-time high quarterly profits, we are pleased to have continued sales growth overseas in April. Also, with the recent domestic launch of the K9 luxury sedan, we expect this flagship model to play a brand image leading role in our lineup when it reaches overseas markets later this year.”