Kia Motors Corporation announced today that its global sales (export sales, domestic sales and sales from overseas plants) of passenger cars, recreation vehicles (RVs) and light trucks in October 2007 recorded 112,877 units, representing a 15.7% year-on-year increase.
By region, Kia’s North America market posted a year-on-year sales increase of 25.9% in October with 28,400 units sold. Meanwhile, sales of Kia vehicles in Europe, China, general markets and Korea were 31,535 units (12.0% year-on-year increase), 8,464 units (12.7% year-on-year decrease), 19,374 units (39.5% year-on-year increase) and 25,104 units (8.0% year-on-year increase), respectively.
Cumulatively through the first ten months of 2007, Kia’s global sales surpassed one million units and increased by 3.2% year-on-year with 1,041,239 units sold. General markets have experienced the largest gain, selling 159,385 units to date for a 12.5% increase, while the North America market has showed cumulative year-on-year sales growth of 7.4%, selling 287,701 units. The Korea and Europe market are also performing well showing a cumulative year-on-year sales increase of 2.5% and 1.7%, respectively.
So far in 2007, Kia’s best selling model in export markets has been the C-segment Cerato (known as ‘Spectra’ in some markets) with 152,489 units sold, followed by the Kia’s Sportage compact SUV with 105,371 and A-segment Picanto with 100,466. The B-segment Rio and Sorento mid-size SUV continue to perform well, selling 99,290 and 76,182 units, respectively.
By vehicle category sold, Kia’s passenger cars sold 51,417 units in October, an increase of 29.9% year-on-year. Sales of passenger cars have also shown cumulative year-on-year sales growth of 7.7%, reaching 488,636 units sold in 2007. 33,195 RV units were sold in October, a 6.6% increase year-on-year. Cumulative sales of its RVs reached 303,068, representing growth of 1.3% year-on-year.
Yong-Hwan Kim, Senior Executive Vice President and COO of Kia Motors Corporation, said, “Taking a view of the entire year, our global sales are trending upwards month-on-month and we’re seeing consistent growth in most markets. The results this month, in particular, are very positive, and perhaps inform us more about how far we have come in some markets since last year.
“The cee’d was not on sale this time last year and is now a major additional contributor to our passenger sales category growth. Quality vehicles, such as the cee’d, are also boosting our reputation in all markets and are helping return strong growth in North America and a number of emerging general markets.”
November 24th, 2007 at 12:49 pm
well, kia sales are going well. when is the Rio going to be redisigned? The rear of Rio sedan doesnt look good at all.
November 24th, 2007 at 6:02 pm
I agree! It is scheduled for a redesign in ‘10.
November 25th, 2007 at 5:29 pm
Ok. u might not be seeing my coments for sometime. tomorrows (26 nov 07) the last day
. And then I’ll be back to chat here by 12 Dec. I might come in between which most unlikely but I’ll try.
November 25th, 2007 at 7:15 pm
Whay are you leaving?
November 25th, 2007 at 8:02 pm
Where ya going Boris? We’ll keep the light on for ya!
The Kia Motors sales news is most impressive. Kia Rio re-design? Not till 2010 but there’s plenty going on with the other Kia models to keep is occupied. Great sales news!
November 25th, 2007 at 8:26 pm
I am sooooo so so so sorry about that. My friends had come over. one of them must have written that. He doesnt like Kia and keeps telling me to stay away from anything related to Kia. No matter how much I try he still is not convinced with Kia. Not sure why he wrote those dates. anyway dont worry I’ll be there.
November 26th, 2007 at 1:51 am
I have a video of our Optima on you tube. here’s the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVt2-M7DNO4 If you have any questions email me: love.my.kia@charter.net
November 26th, 2007 at 3:32 am
Does anyone know what happened to himi?
November 26th, 2007 at 5:09 am
yeah Greg. Himi hasnt commented for a long time.
November 26th, 2007 at 6:23 am
I’m getting sick of the non-understandable crap! not sure if this will work, but try to put this together in your address bar. himi won’t moderate it. It is a video of my Optima. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVt2-M7DNO4
November 26th, 2007 at 6:26 am
My optima video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZVt2M7DNO4 put that together without the spaces. himi isn’t around to moderate the link.
November 26th, 2007 at 6:29 am
If you have any questions, email me at: love.my.kia@charter.net Again, put it together without the spaces. The new people on here lately are ticking me off! I can’t even understand them! By the way, Boris, is UAE’s national language arabic? Just wondering.
November 26th, 2007 at 6:33 am
yes it is. But there are a lot of expatrates here. U find lots of different languages here. After Arabic, English is most common here. I was wondering if Optima was going to get a coupe version to compete with Altima, Lumina and Accord coupe.
November 26th, 2007 at 6:39 am
I don’t know. I will search. Have you seen the video yet?
November 26th, 2007 at 6:40 am
the vid isnt coming. I removed the spaces as well. could you tell the name of the vid so I can search for it?
November 26th, 2007 at 6:55 am
Wow! I was on Kia’s U.A.E. Site and I can not believe how aweful they made the Amanti(Oprius) look!
November 26th, 2007 at 6:56 am
2007 Kia Optima
November 26th, 2007 at 7:01 am
That is the title. This is the american Oprius(Amanti) http://www.kia.com/amanti/amanti-views.php
November 26th, 2007 at 7:04 am
Wait, I searched my video and could not find it. hmm. I could send it as an attachment to your email address. just send me a letter: love.my.kia@charter.net
November 26th, 2007 at 10:21 am
Hi everybody!:-)
Everything is fine with me guys! I went to visit some of my friends over the weekend, that’s why I didn’t comment in the last three days.
I see a lot of new comments here, which is nice, but also many spams again. I don’t know how to get ridd of them. I installed some stuff agains them, but those robots can always find the way and avoid the web protection.
I also moderated all your links, including Greg’s video link! I watched it and is a cool video. The car is parked in front of your house right Greg!?
I hope you’ll spent some nice time Boris until you get back here. We will sure miss one of the most active Kia-world blog visitor. By the time you come back this blog will get a new design, so i’m sure you (and other readers) will be very surprised!
November 26th, 2007 at 12:25 pm
OK. I’ll be waiting to see that New design.
November 26th, 2007 at 5:20 pm
Moderator position still open? LOL The video is on a carport type slab that we share with our neighbor behind our house.
November 26th, 2007 at 5:26 pm
Going through the tunnel of trees is my favorite part of my video. Does Kia have busses in Slovenia? On Kia’s Slovenian website they have two models. Just wondering
November 26th, 2007 at 10:54 pm
STILL WONDERING ABOUT THE BUSSES! Let me know. Thanks.
November 26th, 2007 at 11:17 pm
Yes the moderator place is still opened Greg! And no, Kia is not selling busses here. I’m not sure where did you find this!?:-)
This is Kia Slovenia official site: http://www.kia.si and I can’t find any busses there!
November 26th, 2007 at 11:55 pm
sem dal položaj sem našel to naprej naprej Kia Borrego ) volna angorske koze odgovor mesto.
I’m beginning to love this translator!
November 27th, 2007 at 12:34 am
ha ha Greg!
Show me which text did you translate, because the translation doesn’t make any sense.
November 27th, 2007 at 12:52 am
OMG! when I translated the words back this is what I got: I put wheels within wheels I found this upward upward Kia Borrego ) wool angorske smallpox word where. LOL! I don’t even remember what I was saying!
November 27th, 2007 at 12:55 am
Don’t use those translators again.
We went really off-topic, so let’s get back to Kia!!
November 27th, 2007 at 1:01 am
What is the most popular Kia in Slovenia? second, third?
November 27th, 2007 at 1:19 am
I deleted those posts Greg, because that were only nonsense and the translation was not good. Don’t get angry on me because of doing that!
To answer your question, the most popular Kia is of course, the cee’d hatchback, then I think there is a Picanto and Rio, Carens, Sorento. The Carnival/Sedona and Optima,called Magentis here don’t sell well in Europe.
November 27th, 2007 at 1:20 am
Boris- you live in dubai right? Have you ever seen those huge man-made islands?
November 27th, 2007 at 1:22 am
Thats weird, the Magentis is supposed to have “European Design and Appeal”
November 27th, 2007 at 1:28 am
Hm, I don’t know…Not many Europeans agree on that and most of people find it borring.
November 27th, 2007 at 1:53 am
Is it just me? I find it best looking out of ALL (affordable, LOL) mid-sized cars! Love Volvo too! Swedes build Volvo, those are EXPENSIVE!
November 27th, 2007 at 4:03 am
Yes I’ve seen those man made Islands. whe completed the are going to be 3 palm (tree) shaped islands and another place called THE WORLD will consist of more than 300 islands to form a map of the world. May be it is just you Greg. The Opirus / Amanti, Optima / Magentis and Rio sedan dont sell well here. The top mid size sedan here is camry. The best selling Kia here is the sportage.
November 27th, 2007 at 4:15 am
This could be the next “Most Commented Arcticle”
November 27th, 2007 at 4:16 am
Makes sense. The Sportage is good for desert conditions I guess.
November 27th, 2007 at 4:22 am
yeah. get a lot of sand flying around. SUVs, big or small sell great here.
November 27th, 2007 at 10:01 am
The people in Dubai are building 300 man made islands named THE WORLD. They should also build the KIA-WORLD next to it, where only Kias would be allowed to drive!
November 27th, 2007 at 10:47 am
And with the shape of the Kee’s face.
. most comented arcticle is this now, right?
November 27th, 2007 at 10:54 am
And where’s Chandan gone? in the post “Kia Mohave (Borrego) interior spy picture” he said that he had driven the Borrego in Korea. Himi, I you probably have his e mail address. Invite him to the blog again to tell a bit about how it feels and handles. some of Kia’s power steerings are increadibly light like on Amanti and Sorrento.
November 27th, 2007 at 11:48 am
I’m sure he’ll come back soon, otherwise I can contact him on his mail. Yes Boris this is the most commented topic right now with 43 comments beeing posted!
November 27th, 2007 at 4:18 pm
hope he does, But if he is the Chandan from wheels mag then I’ll get to see the review in wheels.
November 28th, 2007 at 1:56 am
Build an island in the shape of a Kia Kee! And then watch people freak out!
I’m really looking forward to the next Kia Spectra coming to the U.S.
This is one busy thread, too!
November 28th, 2007 at 7:46 pm
I’d seen a cerato (spectra) hatch back recently. Looking at it I remembered cee’d. 46 comments and still counting…..
November 28th, 2007 at 10:24 pm
What year was the HB? was it the old one with a windsheild wiper in the back? That was the ugliest Kia I had ever seen!
November 28th, 2007 at 10:30 pm
what the old Spectra GSX? that was a piece of poo, I love kia but the old spectras were horrible.
November 28th, 2007 at 10:34 pm
The old spectra was one of the worst rated cars sold in america. I think every 01-03 spectra I trade is falling apart and sounds like it needs a new engine.
November 29th, 2007 at 2:25 am
Yeah, Kia didn’t really get their foot in the reliability dept. until 2004-05.
November 29th, 2007 at 3:52 am
I think it was a ‘06 model.
November 29th, 2007 at 10:25 am
Boris Says:
November 29th, 2007 at whatever time is above in blue
52 comments! Its a half century
January 9th, 2008 at 8:20 pm
I’m back on this post after such a long time. Its still the most commented post. 53.