Kia Motors News July 2017 Recap

We always do our best to keep you up with all that’s happening in the world of Kia, but with the stories coming thick and fast, we understand that some news items may not be seen by everyone.

Since we are approaching the end of the month, we though now would be a good time to recap some of the biggest Kia news stories from the month of July.

1. Kia Stonic gains 2500 orders

The Kia Stonic was recently unveiled in Europe, and has already hit the marketplace in South Korea.

Kia has allowed people in the domestic market to place preorders, and have been blown away by the success, with 2500 orders already placed.

The goal is to sell 1500 units per month in Korea, so this is certainly a fantastic start.

Europe is where Kia hope to really hit big with the Stonic crossover, so we will be keeping an eye on the sales figures in that market.

2. Kia Sorento facelift

Another major event that happened in Korea in July was the unveiling of the newly refreshed Sorento SUV.

This is a big story, as it tells us what to expect from the US-spec 2018 model year Sorento.

This is a model that has been a big part of Kia’s success in the US, as it has one of their best-selling models, cracking the top 3 in the Kia line-up for a couple of years now.

3. Hyundai-Kia on a roll in Mexico

Kia has made it clear that Mexico is an important market for them, which is why the sales figures from there are major news.

In order to really increase their presence south of the border, Kia built a manufacturing plant there, with some of the vehicles produced there also making their way to the United States.

It’s early yet, but the response from consumers in Mexico has been very positive.

There were many people in the industry who believed that Kia would struggle to break into the market in Mexico early on, but they have already cracked the top 10 automakers in that part of the world.

Furthermore, when the sales figures of Kia and sister company Hyundai are combined, they are better than the figures delivered by Toyota Motor Corp.

The Korean automakers combined to sell 61,616 units in Mexico in the first half of 2017, a staggering 53% increase over the same period the year prior. Toyota went from 45,930 units to 51,307 year on year, an increase of 12%.

4. Kia sales in US decrease

Kia has been seeing some great sales increases in Mexico, but the same cannot be said for the US.

For the month of June, Kia sold 56,143 units in the US, which is a bit of a decrease from the 62,000 units they sold in June 2016.

The Forte was the top-selling model, followed by the Optima, Sorento, and Soul, with the Sportage landing in fifth.

The all-new Niro hybrid model moved 2,188 units.

We hope that the overall Kia sales numbers will take an upward trend starting this month.