March 2009: global sales report

Kia Motors reports March 2009 sales numbers…

Kia Motors Korea released their monthly sales report, revealing us it’s global sales result for the month of March 2009. Unlike some of it’s main competitors Kia manages to keep it’s sales numbers rising during the economic slowdown. In March 2009, the Korean second-largest car company sold 125.738 new vehicles globally The number represents a slight increase over the last year’s 124.767 sold units (Kia sales in March 2008)

Kia sales by region

General markets, China and South Korea remain the top performing markets. In March, Kia sold 22.546 units in General markets (+19%), 14.540 units in China (+11%) and 30.043 vehicles in South Korea (+6%). Thanks to the new Soul, Kia also increased it’s US sales by 0.9% (28.279 units). Particularly strong in March was the sales in Africa and Middle East where Kia posted a whoping 70 percent year-on-year sales increase (14.192 units sold).

Cumulatively, in the first quarter of 2009, Kia experienced the largest sales gain in General markets, selling 62.957 units (+ 20.1%), while the North American and Korean markets showed cumulative year-on-year sales increases of 1.5% (79.494 units sold) and 6.7% (79.406 units sold).

Best selling Kia models in 2009

The best selling Kia model in the first three months of fiscal year remains to be the Cerato (known as Forte in the US market). The C-segment compact sedan has seen sales of 48.760 units so far. Cerato was followed by Kia Sportage SUV and the B-segment Rio competing for the No2 spot with 31.590 and 31.586 units sold, respectively. Completing the top five best selling Kias are European built cee’d and Picanto minicar with 26.602 and 20.555 units sold, respectively.

“Although the first quarter of the year has presented challenges for the automotive industry, Kia continued to see strong growth throughout multiple markets.” told Hyoung-Keun Lee, Senior Executive Vice President and COO of the International Business Division at Kia Motors. “We will continue to prudently monitor our activity, but remain confident that we are well positioned with our next-generation Cerato and new Soul crossover now on sale in many international markets.” added Hyoung-Keun Lee.

Interested in monthly Kia sales numbers? Check out our US, Canada and global Kia sales reports here: Kia sales