- Kia sold 98,218 vehicles globally in July

- Cumulative sales reach 717,485 , an increase of 0.2% year-on-year

Kia Motors Corporation announced that it’s global sales (export sales, domestic sales and sales from overseas plants) of passenger cars, recreation vehicles and light trucks in July 2007 recorded 98,218, representing a 0.1% year-on-year increase. By region, Kia’s general markets posted a year-on-year sales increase of 15.8% in June with 16,801 units sold.

Meanwhile, sales of Kia vehicles in North America, Europe, China and Korea were 29,600 units, 26,449 units, 5,358 units and 20,010 units respectively.Cumulatively through the first seven months of 2007, Kia’s global sales increased by 0.2% year-on-year and reached 717,485 units. (more…)

Last month, Kia sold 3417 vehicles in Canada. The best selling model was the newcomer Rondo with sales reaching up to 787 units for month of July. Kia’s little SUV Sportage and compact car Rio did good too, with sales over 700 units for both.

Here are the numbers of vehicles sold:

Rio - 743, Spectra - 560, Magentis - 193, Amanti - 8, Rondo - 787, Sportage – 721, Sorento - 81, Sedona - 324

Hyundai Kia Automotive Group’s two automakers – Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp. – recorded contrasting sales in the United States and Korea during July. Last month, the group’s smaller automaker Kia saw its sales rise by 1 percent from the same month last year when the company’s U.S. monthly sales reached the highest levels since 1994. Hyundai’s sales fell by 7.8 percent despite the sales increase of 5.4 and 15.9 percent recorded by the mid-sized sedan Sonata and the minivan Entourage.

In contrast, Hyundai’s domestic sales in July rose by more than 80 percent from the same month last year and maintained over a 50 percent market share for the fifth consecutive month while Kia’s domestic sales fell by 5.1 percent.

Kia Motors America (KMA) today announced record July sales of 26,690 units and the Kia Sorento had its best month of the year with 4,342 units sold.  KMA remains on track toward another annual sales record with year-to-date sales of 181,082 units, a 4.7-percent increase over the same period last year. 

“Once again Kia has had a record sales month and is on track for its fourteenth consecutive record sales year,” said Len Hunt, executive vice president and COO of KMA.  “Consumers and media alike continue to recognize the quality and safety of our products as evidenced by our ever increasing sales growth.”

The Optima and the Sportage also had strong July sales.  Optima saw 4,196 units sold, while Sportage sold 3,801 units, both increases over the same period last year.

South Korea’s two largest automakers, Hyunda Motor and Kia motors posted stronger sales for July on stronger demand overseas, compared with the same month a year earlier, according to their separate announcements on Wednesday.

Hyundai Motor, the country’s top carmaker, said in a regulatory filing that it had sold 199,222 units in July, including its overseas sales of 146,502 units, up 61.1 percent from a year earlier.

Kia Motors, a Hyundai Motor affiliate ranked third in terms of sales, saw sales rise by 3.2 percent year on year. It sold 75,798 units last month as exports gained 6.5 percent to 55,788 units and domestic sales slipped 5.1 percent to 20,010 units.

As reported, Kia posted a nice increase in earnings for second quarter of the year, ending June 30th. Net income in the last three months rose 36 percent to $67 million compared with $45 million a year earlier.

So what is the main reason for Kia to be in black again, after four quarters of making loss?
Kia sold 289,334 vehicles in the April to June period, 1.4 percent fewer than a year earlier. Domestic sales declined 2.1 percent while exports slid 1.2 percent. Kia’s cost-to-revenue ratio was unchanged at 85.7 percent in the first half, even as overall revenue fell. The automaker said it cut manufacturing costs by about 800 million dollars so far this year.

Regarding the sales, their facelifted Opirus (named Amanti in US market), which is Kia’s most expensive car doubled sales in its home market. Number of luxury Opirus cars sold in S.Korea surged to 5,788 during the second quarter, compared with 2,924 a year earlier. And the carmaker’s average selling price in Korea rose 6.5 percent in the first half, helped by demand for more expensive Opirus sedans and Sorento SUVs, Kia said.

With Kia launching some very interesting new SUVs in the near future (HM and Soul), we hope this trend of making good money at Kia continues!

Hyundai and Kia together appear set to produce one million cars overseas this year.According to data from the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association on Tuesday, Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors together rolled out 556,053 cars in factories in the U.S., India, Turkey, China and Slovakia in the first half of this year.

Last year’s overseas production was 844,409 cars for Hyundai and 12,433 cars for Kia. Based on their output so far, Hyundai and Kia look likely to hit the one million mark overseas this year.

Meanwhile Hyundai increased its annual production capacity in Turkey last April by 40,000 to 100,000, and is also planning to start up a second factory in India in November with production aimed at 300,000 units annually.

Kia is set to complete construction on a second factory in China in October also capable of producing 300,000 units a year. Production will start off at 150,000 units annually until 2011 when the company will turn up output to up to 300,000 units.

Kia Motors efforts to spend less on marketing and cut other costs helped the company to achieve a 36 percent rise in net profit.

Yesterday, Kia reported it’s first net profit in four quarters in the second quarter of this year, according to the nation’s second-largest automaker on Friday.

However, a stronger won currency and persistent labour unrest are expected to squeeze short-term earnings at Kia, analysts said.

Despite the positive second-quarter results, Kia posted an operating loss of 36.7 billion won (US$40 million) in the first six months of this year, as it sold fewer cars and was hit by a damaging labour strike.

“We are now trying to complete wage negotiations with union as soon as possible to help improve earnings in the second half,” Kia’s Chief Executive Officer Cho Nam-hong said in a statement.

On the same day, Kia’s 28,000-member union was voting to decide on whether to accept a tentative wage agreement to end partial strikes since early this month that cost the automaker US$370 million in lost production.

In the three months to June, Kia earned 61.4 billion won ($67 million) in net profit, compared with a profit of 45 billion won for the same period a year earlier.

At the operating level, Kia bounced back into the black with a profit of 36.9 billion won, compared with a loss of 16 billion won a year ago.

For the April to June quarter, Kia sold 289,334 vehicles, down 1.4 per cent from a year ago. Kia’s vehicle sales for the first half of this year fell 4.4 percent to 560,474 units, the company said.

“By the end of this year, Kia Motors aims to cut costs by a total of 1.8 trillion won,” Kia’s Chief Financial Officer Ahn Hee-bong told analysts in a conference call. Ahn said Kia had already cut 795.8 billion won in costs in the first half.

Hyundai Motor and its affiliate Kia Motors passed through the 5 percent barrier in terms of market share in the United States in June, for the first time since 1986 when Hyundai Motor began exporting cars to the U.S.

Hyundai Motor sold 49,368 vehicles in the United States last month, while Kia Motors sold 26,288. The combined sales of 75,656 accounted for 5.2 percent of the total sales in the country.

Good performances also affected the stock prices of the automakers. Hyundai Motor climbed 2.8 percent after the company said its U.S. vehicle sales in June jumped 11 percent year-on-year. Kia Motors also edged up 2.7 percent despite wage disputes between labor and management.

Kia continues to push its sales higher and higher in Canada, where Korean cars are becoming more popular with each month. According to latest reports, the Korean second largest carmaker sold 3775 cars in Canada in May 2007.

Kia’s sales have increased 22 percent when compared to last year. In the same month a year earlier, Kia sold 3093 cars on Canadian soil. This is a very nice sales increase and proves that Kia cars are becoming better and better.

That Kia cars are quality and great to drive can be confirmed by many satisfied Kia owners around the world. But there are still many consumers out there who need to overcome a “cheap image” stigma. With new, even more attractive models coming out soon, those people will be able to change their opinions on Korean cars for sure.

Ok, let’s get back to the sales number, achieved last month. The star in the Kia’s Canadian vehicle lineup was a 7-seat Rondo crossover (or minivan)! Rondo has experienced its best ever month since it’s introduction a few months ago with a massive 60% increase over April’s figures.

A total of 954 Rondos were sold last month, while in a month earlier (in April), Kia dealers sold 595 units of Rondo. Since its introduction in November last year, Kia dealers already moved 2700 Rondos from their lots, which means, the Rondo is becoming one of the most popular mini-MPVs in Canada.

Hopefully, Kia sales will continue to rise through the year…

Kia Motors America announces best May sales ever!

Kia Motors America today announced it has achieved the best May sales ever with the number of new cars and SUVs totaling 28.494 units. The number represents an impressive 7.5-percent increase over the sales numbers achieved in the same period last year.

Year-to-date Kia car sales totaled 128.104 units, representing a 7.5-percent increase over the same period of last year. Sales for the month were led by the C-segment Kia Spectra sedan and hatchback with 8.512 units sold.

The Sportage compact SUV and Rio sub-compact sedan also achieved their best months of the year in May 2007 with sales of 4.678 units and 3.479 units, respectively. The latest model to the Kia line-up, the Rondo crossover, followed the trio with its best month of the year. More than 1.754 units of Rondo were sold in May.

“Once again our increasing sales, led by our award-winning pillar models, Spectra and Sportage, have yielded another best month ever,” said Len Hunt, executive vice president and COO of KMA.

“By staying true to our core promise of producing value-, safety- and quality-minded vehicles, and bringing new, design-oriented product to market in the near future, we are on pace for another consecutive record sales year.” added Hunt.

Here are Kia’s sales numbers for the month of May 2007:

MONTH OF MAY              YEAR-TO-DATE
Model                     2007         2006        2007          2006

Rio                         3,479        1,697       13,067       11,423
Spectra                  8,512        8,474       30,208       28,541
Optima                   3,712        4,761       17,675       15,272
Amanti                       748          493        4,014        2,805
Sportage                4,678        2,545       20,088       15,048
Sorento                  3,111        3,899       16,073       19,831
Sedona                   2,500        4,625       21,122       26,215
Rondo                     1,754          N/A        5,857          N/A

Total                   28,494       26,494      128,104      119,135