Kia Motors Corporation announced its global sales figures (export sales, domestic sales and sales from overseas plants) for passenger cars, recreational vehicles (RVs) and commercial vehicles for October, recording a total of 216,603 units sold. 

This figure represents a year-on-year increase of 18.8 percent, a statement from the automobile company said.

Kia posted strong double digit year-on-year sales increases in many of its major sales regions – 41.4 percent in China with 44,009 units sold, 35.4 percent in Europe with 45,810 units sold, 20.1 percent in North America with 42,870 units sold and 10.7 percent in general markets with a sale of 42,612 units. October sales in Kia’s home market of Korea declined by 4.3 percent with 41,302 units sold.

Cumulatively, through the first ten months of 2011, Kia’s global sales have increased by 18.2 percent year-on-year to reach 2,044,225 units. North America has experienced the highest gain to date in 2011 of 33.5 percent (461,945 units sold) while the remaining regions have all shown cumulative year-on-year sales increases with 28.7 percent in China (365,786 units sold), 20.6 percent in Europe (395,588 units sold), 9.7 percent in general markets (411,990 units sold) and 3.5 percent in Korea (408,916 units sold). 

Kia’s best selling model in overseas markets was the B-segment Rio (known as ‘K2’ in China) with 33,797 units sold. The Sportage compact CUV was the second best seller with 30,622 units delivered, while the C-segment Cerato (known as ‘Forte’ in some markets), Sorento mid-size CUV and D-segment Optima sedan followed with 27,556, 19,031 and 13,962 units sold, respectively.

“The all-new Picanto and Rio compact vehicles have been earning praise from motoring media and consumers alike, and have provided a boost to sales heading into the remainder of 2011,” said Tae-Hyun (Thomas Oh), senior executive vice president & COO, Kia Motors.

“Kia’s new global brand campaign, ‘Inspired by What You Like’, is now gaining traction in major markets around the world, and we look forward to closing out the year with strong momentum for the brand,” he added. – TradeArabia News Service