Kia Motors aims for rise in auto sales in Europe!

Kia Motors Corp., South Korea’s second-largest automaker, said Monday it aims to sell 19 per cent more vehicles in 2007 in Europe than in 2006, driven by higher demand for its hatchback model C’eed.

Kia has set its 2007 sales target in Europe at 391,000 vehicles, compared with 328,584 sold in 2006, the company said ahead of an international auto show in Frankfurt this week.

Early this year, Kia began selling the five-door C’eed hatchback in Europe and sold about 80,000 units by the end of August, the company said.

Buoyed by the high demand, Kia raised its 2008 sales target of C’eed car in Europe to 200,000 units from the previous target of 150,000 units, according to the company.

Also on Monday, Kia completed building an 11-story European headquarters here, as the automaker is aiming at capturing 2.7 percent of the automobile market in Europe by 2010.