Kia’s global sales up 53 percent in November
December 14, 2009 by Tim Beissmann
Kia Motors has recorded a 53.2 percent global sales increase for November, boosted by exponential growth in the Chinese market.
Total sales peaked at 152,826, with China accounting for 29,957, compared to 10,323 in 2008.
Kia Motors President, Hyoung-Keun Lee, was buoyed by positive results in Europe (+43 percent), Korea (+41 percent), North America (+20 percent) and other markets (+34 percent).
“November has proven to be another tremendously successful month for Kia.
“This month we saw growth across all markets and we will seek to continue to satisfy customers with our ongoing rollout of new, stylish and fuel efficient products, including the recently launched Cadenza,” he said.
Cumulatively through the first eleven months of 2009 Kia’s global sales have increased by 17 percent year-on-year to 1,489,204 units.
The Cerato (also known as Spectra and Forte in overseas markets) has been the highest-selling model with 269,864, while the Rio and Sportage are battling it out for second place on 159,385 and 157,312 respectively.
In Australia Kia’s 2009 sales are down 2.9 percent on last year, resisting much of the industry’s 9.3 percent slump thanks to positive results from the Cerato, Sorento and Sportage.
November sales were up 32.2 percent (against the industry average of 19.9 percent), again spurred on by the Cerato (241 vs 77 in 2008) and the Sportage (255 vs 90).
The Rio was the only model to lose ground in November, with sales of the entry-level cheapster down 17 percent, and 16.7 percent or 1589 for the year.
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Kia has been doing very well in the current financial crisis.
The Sportage and Rio are outdated and need upgrades but they will all be replaced soon enough as Kia continues its large research and investment funding.
The Cerato and Sorento are just awesome. Bring the Cadenza here to the Aussie market, it looked just fantastc. Peter Schryer is doing wonders for Kia… and he will in the coming years.
Hyundai-Kia are developing in-house 8 and 10-speed auto transmission and 5.0 Direct injection… with their power train techonology improving at such a rapid pace… the Japanese should be worried right now.
You folks really keep up with posting these positive stories on Hyundai and Kia. Yes we know they are pretty much the only mass production motor brands to have bucked the trend globally during the GFC. Can we just move on from this?
I really like the Soul – although it’s a tad ovepriced here based in comparison to other markets – as it suits my style and will hopefully mean I’m not surrounded by the same when I’m stuck in traffic with the Yaris. Plus there isn’t really anything the Japanese can offer as an alternative; Nissan Cube? *urghh*
3 out of the 4 cars in the long term tests are H-K. There is obviously a good relationship between car advice and H-K, for whatever reason.
Evolution….Perhaps you should read this post before bashing the Koreans again.