Kia posted a year-on-year sales increase of 24.1 percent compared to the same period of time in the previous year. This performance translates in 139,656 Kia vehicles sold worldwide. The figure includes export sales, domestic sales, and sales from overseas plants for passenger cars, recreational vehicles (RVs), and commercial vehicles.
While Kia's biggest sales increase registered in China, the company's back bone remains the North American market where it sold the most vehicles. Kia marked a 104.9 percent year-on-year increase in China, where it sold 21,770 units in August. Next in line came the North American car market where the South Korean automaker posted a 55 percent increase with 44,870 vehicles sold. Kia succeeded in the domestic market as well, where it recorded an 8.1 percent increase compared to August 2008, representing some 25,184 units.
The South Korean automaker's best selling vehicle was the C-segment Cerato (known as Spectra or Forte in some markets) with 180,184 units, followed by the Sportage compact SUV with 111,868 units and the B-segment Rio with 108,760 units (the figures account for sales since the beginning of 2009 to date). The popular in Europe Kia cee'd managed fourth place with 80,705 units sold.
"We are very encouraged that in August we have already surpassed the million unit global sales mark, despite the various and difficult challenges facing the automotive industry. These results are promising and we look forward to carrying this momentum through to the final quarter of 2009," said Hyoung-Keun Lee, President of Kia Motors Corporation.
The company copes well with the current global recession as more and more consumers turn their attention to more fuel efficient and affordable vehicles. This means the recipe for success for today's budget car manufacturer is to only bring a freshened vehicle lineup on the market. The rest can be done by people's common sense.
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