Kia sales improved 9 percent last month according to the company’s official sales release. With sales rising to 24.052, the Korean second largest automaker recorded its best February sales ever.
Sales last month were led by new Sorento and Soul crossovers. The US-produced Sorento posted sales of 8.207 units, which represnets an 11 percent increase over January 2010. During the first two months of fiscal year, Kia already sold 15.605 units of new Sorento in the US market.
Monthly sales numbers show us that the 2011 Kia Sorento is one of the hottest crossover vehicles on the market at the moment. In February, the model outsold Toyota RAV-4 to become the second best-selling vehicle in the segment. It topped the Chevrolet Equinox with 8.061 units sold and came very close to the segment-leader, the Ford Edge, with 8.694 units sold.
“In addition to being our best-selling vehicle for the second month in a row, the all-new Sorento also is bringing new, more affluent customers into our showrooms and indicates the growing interest in the Kia brand,” said B.M. Ahn, group president and CEO of KMA and Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia.
“Having recently celebrated the grand opening of Kia’s first U.S.-based manufacturing plant in West Point, Georgia, Sorento’’s strong performance validates the investments Kia has made in the U.S. market as more and more consumers are recognizing our commitment to quality, design, safety and technology.”
February also marks exactly one year since Kia Motors America put its funky Soul crossover on the market. Its sales have leaped from just 34 units in February last year to impressive 3.600 units sold in February 2010.
Other Kia cars that also performed well last month were Forte compact sedan (and two-door Koup) and soon-to-be-replaced Kia Optima sedan with 4.300 and 2.471 units sold, respectively. Kia also sold 1.949 units of Rio and 1.088 units of Sportage SUV. Other models such as Borrego, Sedona and Rondo achieved monthly sales below 1.000 units.
Kia February sales table:
March 4th, 2010 at 11:03 pm
ATTENTION ALL DEALERS:
Many of you likely have Toyota owners and potential customers coming into your store because of Toyota’s Unintended Acceleration recalls. Many may worry there’s something more than floor mats and “sticky” pedals. And you probably would like to be able to show them proof that Kia vehicles indeed have better designed Electronic Throttle Controls than Toyota. Well, here’s how, just in time for Toyota‘s new sales blitz..
First, print Dr. Gilbert’s testimony to Congress from here:
energycommerce house gov/Press_111/20100223/Gilbert.Testimony.pdf
Note I took out the hyper text protocol indicator and replaced the dots with spaces, so add those back.
Next, print out the Toyota recall procedure from here:
images thetruthaboutcars com/2010/02/Tech-Instructions-Preliminary-Posting-BIL.pdf
Don’t forget to add the http and periods back.
You’ll want to highlight in Dr. Gilbert’s statement where he said he shorted the sensor leads together without any trouble code being set, and where he said he then connected those two leads to 5V reference voltage and produced WOT acceleration with no DTC/MIL. On the recall procedure, you’ll see the system acceptable voltages on pages 8 and 9. You’ll want to point out two things: At WOT, the two sensor voltages can in fact overlap. And that full system reference voltage is a valid input and wouldn’t set a DTC. Just like Dr. Gilbert’s tests found! It looks like 5V on side 1 might set a code, but the tests indicated that’s not the case, not surprising since there’s only a 10% difference anyway.
Next, you’ll want to print the system description and specs from the Shop Manual for your car. CAUTION: not every car in the line-up has ETC.
CAUTION: I’m basing what follows on the Hyundai Azera manual. I cannot fathom that Kia’s system differs, but be sure to verify this. If anyone finds any discrepancies, PLEASE let me know.
I found it under Fuel System>Engine Control System>Accelerator Position System. The system description and specs clearly show that this system uses resistors to do two things: Choke the maximum voltage on side 1 to 4.35V, so the system can detect a short to reference. And on side two, voltage is choked to 50% of side one. So if a foreign voltage was introduced or somehow induced in the sensor leads, the ECU would know that since it’s ALWAYS looking for side one to be twice the value of side two or a code will be set!
Remember, this isn’t taking advantage of Toyota’s misfortune. This is a key safety feature that Toyota lacks, just like Active Head Restraints on some of their cars. Remember too that Toyota has avoided warranty claims for repairs on cars that have had UA and likely has avoided costs on cars that might have otherwise experienced MIL for transitory electrical events. Plus they’ve likely avoided negative survey responses on “Check Engine Light”/MIL. Whether or not this design is the root cause of Toyota’s UA claims, it’s still obvious Kia took extra caution and designed extra safety features in that Toyota didn’t.
This also proves that the “non-Toyota” vehicle Lentz said they could also do the same thing in as Gilbert had done in an Avalon wasn’t a Kia and should comfort those concerned about ETC’s in general. Good luck selling.
March 4th, 2010 at 11:21 pm
What an amazing thread. I mean just amazing who would have known the Sorento would outsell that girly right Rav 4. From first starting out with sales with little over 500 units to for the first time out selling a very popular Toyota model. This is the first time ever have I heard any Kias outselling a Toyota model. Also, the recall is useless for toyota I just saw on the news that people are still haveing problems even after the recall. Anyway back on Kia. The Sorento first came out in 2003 would knew that one day that the Sorento would out do a rival. what’s the next Sportage going to be like on sales? What’s the next Optima going to be like or even the Cadenza? So while the Soul is outselling its rivals the Sorento is doing the same (it outsold the Equinox and Rav-4). Who would have known. And where are the haters? Usually they come on here but it seems that everytime a new Kia comes on here or an amazing thread like this one is on here less and less haters come on here. Dan’s Rio thread been dead for months now. I guess it’s because aint’ nothing really negative to say about Kias now. Besides the next Rio is coming on spy shots. So lets see they can’t say nothing about Kias copying (since Toyota, Honda and Nissan do the same) They can’t talk about weak and slow accelerating engines. They can’t talk about style, they can’t talk about quailty hhmmmm all that’s left is resale vaule and the way I see it Toyota should be more worried about resale value.
March 4th, 2010 at 11:25 pm
Kia has a history of making utility vehicels from the Kia Retona Cruisner to the Kia Borrego and still and now outselling the Rav-4 one of CR-V’s main rivals. From years of making panaramic roofs in the 2005 Kia Mesa to now making them into production. who would have known that the first Kia built in the States would outsell a Toyota model? Who would have known a Kia would be one of the hottest buys to buying a new car? Like Hummer and Jeep Kia also made military vehicels and now they are showing they can make good CUVs better than Jeeps. If now why is jeep killing off some many CUVs like the Compus and the Pattriot. Why is that?
March 4th, 2010 at 11:26 pm
Now we just need to see what happens if or when the Mojave can arrive. who knows it can outsell that Tundra with the IRoc’s face.
March 5th, 2010 at 1:11 am
Who would have known that they would be a partner with the NBA? Who would have known that back in 2003 when the Sorento first arrived it would become the officical NBA Vehicle. From being a bof to a cuv and still being a popular Kia model and out doing that Chevy Equinox.
March 5th, 2010 at 1:13 am
You know what else is ironic? Audi didn’t become the idea car to copy until Kia got Peter. Now while everyone else is using Audi grilles, Kia has yet to begin using an Audi Grille.
March 5th, 2010 at 1:33 am
They can sell Double in Souls if they offered the 3 Door and Soulster.
March 5th, 2010 at 1:34 am
The 3 door needs to be $11K to start at the most. $9-10K would even be better.
March 5th, 2010 at 2:42 am
But there is a 3 door coupe Rio coming to join the sedan and hatch.
March 5th, 2010 at 7:01 am
I wish that Coupe was the Kee jtz.
March 5th, 2010 at 7:25 am
only 9% up?
Even honda, subaru, gm, ford… all double digit % up in last month sales.
I think wink on red light.
March 5th, 2010 at 11:04 am
jtz if you can find me a story on it ill let you write for me at my accentplanet site.
March 5th, 2010 at 1:10 pm
@Derrick G
I found some interesting data at cars.com.
According to NHTSA data, Kia and Hyundai are only manufacturer have ‘lowest’ rate of Unintended Acceleration problem manufactuer.
blogs.cars.com/.a/6a00d83451b3c669e201310f620c9b970c-800wi
blogs.cars.com/kickingtires/2010/03/toyota-not-the-only-automaker-linked-to-unintended-acceleration.html
March 5th, 2010 at 11:12 pm
HyundaSmoke tell me allllll that you know about the next Rio. Specking of next Rio, remember those old spy shots of the Forte hatch? Will why would Kia be testing the Koup along with that? It could be two things 1: It could be that it was a turbo or even hybrid or 2: it could have distracted for spy shooters from looking at the Rio that could had been tested nearby. This is what I also think, I’m thinking that the rio and the Ch are going to be tested around the same time. I think the CH and Rio have been outside before and just have not been caught or the spy shooters just had not released it for any blogs to show them. Something is really fishy and I’m going to find out or my name ain’t JTZ.
March 5th, 2010 at 11:19 pm
Another thing that is fishy is why would we be seeing spy shots of the Forte hatch when the Rio was already planned to go into production first? See the Rio had to been tested outside before. Kia wasn’t even sure if they wanted a 5 door Forte after slump sales of the Spectra 5. Remember at the time hatches were not popular over in the States but now they are. So how is it that this design was created before the next Rio. Unless, it was already created when the Koup concept first was unveiled and just had not released it. Hmmmm, another thing just came to mind. The cee’d. The 2nd generation Rio and cee’d debuted around the same time togather as well as their facelifts. Could there be 2nd generation cee’d spy shots around the corner?
March 5th, 2010 at 11:24 pm
Another thing just came to mind? Do you guys remeber back in 2008 on this blog Schereyer talking about a coupe like SUV? Could there really be something more than just this Sportage? I mean after all the KND-4 is really a coupe like SUV? Schereyer also said a four door coupe and the Optima must be it but we still have not seen any coupe like SUV from Kia yet. They have somthing up their sleeve something they are saving for later. And Kia still hasn’t released all the information about the Kia Kadenza yet.
March 6th, 2010 at 4:00 am
What do you want to know about the Candenza?
March 6th, 2010 at 4:33 am
SO,
According to something I saw on TTAC, no HKAG car is in the top 117 models for UA, though by the time it gets to 117, the rate is barely measurable anyway.
March 6th, 2010 at 5:16 am
Well Derrick at least we have bragging rights to the The Lies About Cars that Accent is the 2nd most selling subcompact in the US for 2 years, and we can also brag that Genesis is the 3rd largest sellng F-Segment premium car.
March 6th, 2010 at 5:18 am
jtz, KND 4 is about to go into production and is about to go on sale. Its called Sportage
March 6th, 2010 at 5:29 am
Accent is a very important car in that subcompact class in this country. The top 3 have been for a long time Accent, Versa, and Fit. Then Yaris, MINI, and Aveo round out 4th, 5th, and 6th place. Our Rio is in 7th place, and Soul in 8th place.
March 6th, 2010 at 5:35 am
I KNEW IT. I knew Kia was bringing back the 2 door sportage I knew it!!!. You know what I also think? I think the Cadenza has 4WD. I’ll tell you why. Anyone noticed how it’s only sites like Autoblog or Edmunds telling us the cadenza has standard FWD but Kia never really comes out and say that it is only FWD. They’ll say it has FWD but you want find any saying like “Standard FWD”. It’s nowhere on any of Kia’s sites. Heck Kia.com acts like the Cadenza doesn’t even exist. It’s almost as if they are hidding something some big surpirise. There is soemthing more than what Kia already unveiled. This is what I think are the Kia’s that have been out but escaped spy shots. Soulser, the 3 Rios, CH, Sportage coupe. I dont’ think the cee’ds have been out yet though. The 2006 Rio came out in early 2006 and the cee’d arrived in late 2006 as 2007 models (at least the pro cee’d did)
March 6th, 2010 at 5:38 am
“What do you want to know about the Candenza?”
Huh lots of questons. How fast does it get from 0 to 60? What is the mpg? Why hasn’t it been on any reviews yet? What is the price range? What are all the colors? What does the engine look like? Does it have 4WD? The cluster that displays the Cadenza in animation, if I were to get a blue Cadenza, would the image of the Cadenza in cluster be blue or silver?
March 6th, 2010 at 5:38 am
Will the Cadenza get a rear spoiler?
March 6th, 2010 at 5:45 am
So Hyundai Smoke tell me EVERTHING you know about the next generation rio. Now that’s get to the new Optima. Have you guys noticed they keep teasing us with the Optima’s interior? But the question isn’t what does the exterior look like. The question is what does the interior look like? They have this covered really tight. Even more tight than the Borrego, Cadenza and Sorento when they were in spy shots. No one really know what it looks like and the only photos of the interior are thoes useless ones we saw about 2 weeks ago. Who would want to see an exterior mirror (duh we know it’ll have exterior mirros every car has it) Who would want to see a taillight? And better yet, what’s the point of seeing part of an automatic control system?
March 6th, 2010 at 5:49 am
This is what I know, So far every Kia concept that arrived has steering wheels that made it into the prodcution. The Soul’s, Kue’s and Kee’s. I wonder if they are up to something with the Soulser’s steering wheel? Think about it. Why is it that the Kia Ray concept has the Soulster’s steering wheel? Isn’t that fishy?
March 6th, 2010 at 8:23 am
jtz, I just know that I can not find a one damm thing about that car. Im, guessing Rio will be next Gen Accent on the cheap, which that’s not a bad thing since next Gen Accent wont be cheap. Hyundai/KIA is now evenly distributing the wealth on all of its new products. I saw a glimspe of the Accent inerior in a spyshot, and from what I saw it looks like Elantra interior. I can expect the same from Forte.
-
I was asking you if you knew of any spy shots or anything.
March 6th, 2010 at 3:10 pm
Nope I have not seen any spy shots of the Rio neither but I also saw the interior of the accent it does look like the Elantra’s. But I would not assume the Rio’s interior will look like the Forte’s because no Kia interior looks alike. And I don’t think they would start now. I don’t see any new KIA spyshots as of yet.
March 8th, 2010 at 2:44 am
JTZ at the Cleveland Auto show. I didn’t bring any photos because everthing I saw is already seen on the internet. The Soul and the Forte series has improved the interior by giving them pads on all the door rest. It is the same soft pad that is seen on the new Sportage’s interior. I was angry at first because my Forte does not have that to improve my comfort. That’s why on the survey I gave their comofort 3/5 stars. I had too. Unlike lying Toyota fans, I tell the truth about my favorite comapny and don’t give 5/5 stars on every detail. I want Kia to be the best so on my survey I received in the mail I had to give some 3 stars in some areas. Toyota owners had to lie I mean if not why is it that Toyota is having such recalls from 2001 to now? Think about it. If so many Toyotas had problems with their floormats or whatever it was, why is it it was not corrected up until now? Before the recall why was Toyota ranked so high in quailty? So we had liers that had Toyota seem 100% perfect. Now that the word has gotten out, their quaitly is expected to go down. Specking of Toyota, their showroom floor had less people than Kia for the first time ever. Many people just bypassed Toyota to get to other manufactuers. Anyway, at the Cleveland Auto Show, I test drove the 2011 Kia sorento. I was quite suprised about how quickly I was adjusted to it. It was simple to drive and the controls were easy too. I drove the 2.4L AWD. It was silver. As I was driving, the Kia salesman was quite impressed about my facts about Kia he. Many Kia salesmen told me I should be a Kia salesman. But I don’t think I would. Sure, I knew the Sorento outsold the every .05 of a second seeing on the Road Toyota Rave 4 and the Mercedes M class wanna be Equinox but as you can see I’m too futuristic. I was more impressed wtth the Hyundai Equus. Nice interior as well as the Exterior. The more I saw it the more I can’t wait to see Kia’s version. On the back of the driver and passenger seats, the Equss had a table for the Laptop, you can lean back in the back seats just to rest some when going a long distance. Like the K7, it beeps when chanigng lanes and all that other fancy stuff. The announcer said something about it has something only the Equss and Rolls Royce has I don’t remember though. Oh yeah the Rondo is dead now but don’t worry the next Sportage will be a hit I’m sure. Too bad the Kia Cadenza wasn’t there. Kia looks at NAIAS, Chicago and New York as the real autoshows. Believe me there ain’t nothing there you ain’t seen before. Oh yeah, the Cruze looks nice too bad since the new Focus is expected to outsell that over rated Cruze with slow acceleration.
March 8th, 2010 at 2:51 am
3 weeks and 5 days until we see the 2011 Kia Optima. Man that seems like a long time but it’ll be here before we know. Remember the longer it takes for it to be unveiled the less aging it is for it. But since those C pillars are original (now that we seen the images it doesn’t look nothign like the Charger, Saturn Ion or Grand Prix) it will be groundbreaking for a while. Especially because people are still slowely getting to really know the brand. Therefore buying this will turn heads for months compared to the Camry, Accord and every .05 of second seeing on the road Altima. In other words it’ll be rare and it will stand out. Kias take longer to stop turning heads than Toyota. I’m a witness to it since my Kia Forte still turns heads after 8 months. If it was a Toyota people would stop staring at it when I’m driving it. No one stares at a Corolla, Camry or that girly ride Rave 4. But when people buy the new Sportage, Sorento and Optima they will turn heads for quite some time. And they have good quality now.
March 8th, 2010 at 3:40 pm
When is Toyota going to stop mounting the spare tire to the tailgate of that Rav4 anyway? Kia hasn’t done that since the Sportage.
March 8th, 2010 at 4:47 pm
Speaking of Toyota, I realized something else about them that dealers might want to know: The sensors on their pedals are all exposed, inside the pedal assembly with the return springs and friction brake. Remember how Toyota said that on the CTS pedals it was moisture causing them to stick? Well if there’s moisture in there, why are the sensors and their wiring in there all exposed? Perhaps that’s part of their problem. Regardless, if customers ask you might want to show them how on the HKAG assembly, the sensors are sealed in a separate assembly screwed to the side of the main pedal assembly. You might even want to go to a junkyard and get a pedal (all Avalons have CTS pedals, though the Denso ones still have the sensors inside the main assembly but it looks slightly more sealed) and let customers see it and then compare it to the HKAG design. Electrical components not properly sealed to cut costs is something customers can understand and see much better than any engineering debates like Toyota is now trying to engage in with Gilbert. While this may or may not be Toyota’s root problem, there’s no denying that Toyota’s design is cheap and once again was designed more to a price point than to a safety standard.
March 9th, 2010 at 1:30 am
Hey guys, take break from all the serious stuff and check out 2011 Kia Sorento video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JUpaU4or0O8
March 9th, 2010 at 5:18 pm
I saw a 2011 Kia Sorento on the road for the second time. Oh did you see on the news about that guys sky blue Prius. Man it just accelerated at 90 mph can you beleive it? Luckly that police officer knew what to do or he could have died like that Asian family driving that Lexus ES last year. What I can’t understand is why is the Corolla still the best selling car in its segmnet.
March 9th, 2010 at 5:20 pm
When there is a Toyota behind me, I get over in the next lane now. I can’t take any chances. I wonder if owning a Toyota now means the insurance is higher now. If I was an insurance company, I would increase the rates for Toyotas.
March 9th, 2010 at 5:21 pm
There is one good thing about owning a Toyota, if you are drunk and driving a Toyota and get in an accident at least you can lie and blame it on Toyota gas padels. Lol.
March 9th, 2010 at 10:46 pm
A guy tried that jtz. They didnt buy it at all.
March 11th, 2010 at 6:46 am
I’m just sad about the Rondo’s demise. Other brands are NOW manufacturing Rondo type cars and KIA drops it. Yes, I know the Sportage is taking its place but it’s just not the same.
March 11th, 2010 at 9:10 pm
The Sorento is taking the Rondo’s place. The Rondo and Sorento have near IDENTICAL dimensions inside and out.
March 12th, 2010 at 3:43 am
And the Sorento’s are selling like Supersonic ballcaps, too. Where’s the beef?
March 13th, 2010 at 10:54 pm
Let me splain myself further. The 2011 Kia Sorento is a better looking vehicle than the Rondo ever was. And you’ll get the latest technology over the Rondo’s technology in it. My son and I were in Avondale, AZ, yesterday getting my ’08 Mitsubishi Lancer GTS detailed and getting a L-O-F for it. When my son say the 2011 Sorento with the two-tone cream color(it looked like a black color along the bottom of it)he said he’d roll in that any day. It did look great. The new world order Sorento looks great. And it would be a great running vehicle, too.