Kia Motors Corporation announced today its global sales figures for passenger cars (export sales, domestic sales and sales from overseas plants), recreational vehicles (RVs), and commercial vehicles for October 2009, recording a total of 148,583 units sold. This figure represents a year-on-year increase of 34.6%.
By region, Kia posted year-on-year sales increases in China (24,896 units sold, a 119.3% year-on-year increase), North America (26,093 units sold, a 41.7% year-on-year increase), general markets (29,621 units sold, a 31.7% year-on-year increase), Europe (31,956 units, a 30.1% year-on-year increase) and Korea (39,017 units, a 7.2% year-on-year increase).
Cumulatively, through the first ten months of 2009, Kia’s global sales increased by 13.9% year-on-year and reached 1,336,378 units. The Chinese market experienced the highest gain with 191,765 units sold to date, representing a 54.8% increase. Korea, general markets, and North America showed cumulative year-on-year sales increases of 24.6% (327,542 units sold), 12.6% (243,530 units sold) and 8.8% (301,069 units sold), respectively.
To date in 2009, Kia’s best selling model in overseas markets has been the C-segment Cerato (known as ‘Spectra’ or ‘Forte’ in some markets) with 237,402 units sold. Kia’s B-segment Rio and Sportage compact SUV compete closely for second with 141,929 and 141,564 units sold, respectively. The C-segment cee’d comes in fourth with 102,963 units sold, and the Picanto rounds up the top five with 84,761 units sold.
In terms of vehicle category sold overseas, Kia’s passenger and recreational vehicles achieved year-on-year increases in October of 53.2% (73,037 units) and 40.9% (36,621 units), respectively.
Hyoung-Keun Lee, President of Kia Motors Corporation, said, “We are thrilled to see that October proved to be another successful month for Kia. We will continue to build on this momentum by providing customers with vehicles for the young-at-heart, which are both stylish and fuel efficient.” [Source: Kia]
November 13th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
I read an article, the Japenese market is taking Korean cars seriously. But GM continues to ignore them. They better begin realizing the Koreans are coming up before they will have to kill another brand like Saturn and Pontiac died.
November 13th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
@jtz
It is simple.
Hyundai/Kia aim at Japanese makers. (Toyota/Lexus, Honda)
So, if GM aim at Japanese makers, it is automatically realizing the Koreans.
November 13th, 2009 at 7:37 pm
GM/Daewoo motors don’t sell?
GM got 2 feet in Korea, why he don’t sell? cuz it is not hyundai brand name!
GM is better to change name!
November 13th, 2009 at 10:20 pm
It’s nice to see that Kia is being rewarded with strong sales after taking the chance to make the Forte a truly beautiful car instead of a rolling appliance.
November 14th, 2009 at 12:49 am
Webmaster change the poll it’s a long time there. Make a new one .make the question , if you have Kia ,You buy an other kia your next car ?. 3 answers Yes , No , i don’t known
November 14th, 2009 at 5:10 am
I’m curious to look at the next Optima and Sportage. I also want to see the concept version of the CH maybe it’ll be at the NAIAS. I wonder if they decided what color the CH concept will be. Maybe they are still working on the final touches. Or the LEDs . Do you think the CH will have recliners? I wonder what’s the status of the CH. I bet they have a robot in their with a female voice saying “The CH is now complete. Checking status for the 4wd. 4WD complete. Now going into the test area.” They probably have the robots saying this for the next Rio “The Rio is now complete. It’s now ready for phase 1 the windtunnel. Please exit the tunnel before operating the machine.” I wonder what is the first test a car goes through once they are completed? You guys think the Forte hatch out of the clay form in is now production ready? I know the Soulster should be ready. I still think they made a coupe like SUV.
November 14th, 2009 at 5:47 am
That’s good! Let your mind wonder about these things. Kia keeps everything wound up tight, so there is no way to tell!
November 14th, 2009 at 3:27 pm
I dont think GMOYOTA-Pronounced Joy-Mota (YES, I THINK THEY WILL MERGE WITHIN THE NEXT 10 YEARS) is not ignoring Korean Manufacturers. No, I actually think they are using Korea as a bridge country until the Chinese get better, and then will profit off the Chinese, like they are profiting off of the Koreans.
November 14th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
The Chinese and Indians will Wal-Mart us with cheap junk at first, maybe even sell the cars at a loss until they get a footing in the US. By then they will only start to sell us quality cars and they will have the government backing them, only just a matter of time 5 to10 years.
November 15th, 2009 at 1:40 am
Chajee the Chinese have been selling MGs in America, under our noses off the radar for 7 years. Their sales are very very low, and they have shit reliability, but they are probably the most refined out of the Chinese makes.
November 15th, 2009 at 1:40 am
You also hae to special order them as well.
November 15th, 2009 at 2:41 am
It took the Japanes 20 years, the Koreans are apparentely finishing the job in 10, the Chinese will probably do it in 5!
November 15th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
Talk about the BIG Accord, GM and Thai-o-ta merging, huh? I didn’t see that one coming, baby. Though I believe that I have heard it mentioned sometime in the vast automotive interweb world we have come to call home before.
November 16th, 2009 at 10:04 am
No they went there separate ways when NUMMMI closed down.
November 17th, 2009 at 6:10 am
True Chagee, but Im talking out 5-10 years they will merge. They will Find a Climate Competing with Hyundai/KIA and VW/Audi hard to swallow. They as evil dooers will have to join forces against good.
November 17th, 2009 at 6:39 am
Uhh…really. VW/Audi is indeed the enemy. Vast and truedat. Yuk!
November 18th, 2009 at 5:21 am
It will be a friendly competition, that sometmes gets nasty. We might even get to share a platform with them one day, like GM and Toyota. We already share tech, or havent you heard that Hyundai/KIA is VW/Audis low cost Korean Supplier of tech such as: Microchips, ECUs, Wiring, etc…