Global Kia sales rises 2,7% in September

Kia Motors today reported it’s global sales of passenger cars, recreation vehicles (RVs) and commercial vehicles for the month of September 2008. In spite of uncertain economic times, Kia managed to increase it’s September sales to 110,431 vehicles, up 2,7 percent year-on-year.

During the first nine months, Kia’s best selling model in overseas markets has been the Cerato (known as Spectra in some markets) with 154,929 units sold. It is followed by a group of two compact vehicles and a compact SUV: the B-segment Rio at 121,896 units, the C-segment cee’d at 116,097 units and Kia’s Sportage compact SUV at 111,870 units. The A-segment Picanto rounds out the group of five best selling Kia cars with 74,915 units sold.

By region, Kia posted year-on-year sales increases in general markets; 25,851 units sold, a 45.7% year-on-year increase, South Korea; 24,322 units sold, a 19.5% year-on-year increase and China; 11,012 units, a 10.9% year-on-year increase. Meanwhile, in September, Kia’s sales figures went down to 28,091 units in Europe (-12,4%) and 21,155 in North America (-22,8%).

From January through September, Kia Motors has performed strongly in all markets. Cumulatively, through the first nine months of 2008, Kia’s global sales increased by 14.4% year-on-year and reached 1,062,379 units.

China (112,502 units sold) and general markets (193,773 units sold) have experienced the largest gains of 38.1%, and 37.0%, respectively. Cumulative year-on-year sales increases have also been experienced in Korea (a 16.3% gain from 229,171 units sold) and Europe (a 7.8% gain from 268,595 units sold), while North America demonstrated a slight decrease (0.4% decrease from 258,338 units sold).