Kia Motors posts 17.3% global sales growth in November

(SEOUL) December 9, 2010 -- 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 November 2010, recording a total of 179,200 units sold. This figure represents a year-on-year increase of 17.3%.

In November, Kia posted year-on-year sales increases in all regions of the world – 43.0% in North America (30,623 units sold), 21.9% in China (36,507 units sold), 13.9% in Korea (44,049 units sold), 12.0% in general markets* (35,376 units sold) and 4.7% in Europe* (32,645 units sold).

Cumulatively, through the first eleven months of 2010, Kia’s global sales have increased by 28.1% year-on-year to reach 1,908,096 units. General markets and China have experienced the highest gains to date in 2010 of 49.3% (410,815 units sold) and 44.7% (320,750 units sold), respectively.

The remaining regions have all showed strong cumulative double digit year-on-year sales increases: 20.0% in Korea (439,296 units sold), 18.7% in Europe (360,568 units sold) and 16.8% in North America (376,667 units sold).

Kia’s best selling model in overseas markets for the month of November was the C-segment Cerato (known as ‘Forte’ in some markets) with 34,645 units sold. The Sportage compact CUV and B-segment Rio follow with 22,675 and 16,038 units sold, respectively. The Sorento mid-size CUV comes in fourth with 15,820 units sold and the Soul urban crossover vehicle rounds out the top five with 10,704 units sold.

Senior Executive Vice President & COO of Kia Motors Corporation, Thomas Oh, said, “As we head into the final month of 2011, we are encouraged to see continued positive year-on-year sales growth in all of our major sales regions. Furthermore, we are well on track to exceed 2 million global sales units in 2011, which will be a milestone achievement for Kia Motors. All of our employees around the world are focused on finishing out the year in a strong fashion while maintaining strong momentum for the brand that will carry us over into the New Year.”

Editor’s notes:

* ‘General markets’ include the regions of Central and South America, the Caribbean, Asia (excluding China and Korea), the Pacific, Middle East and Africa. ‘Europe’ includes both Western and Eastern European markets.

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Kia Motors Corporation (www.kia.com) -- a maker of quality vehicles for the young-at-heart -- was founded in 1944 and is Korea's oldest manufacturer of motor vehicles. As part of the Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group, Kia aims to become one of the world's premier automotive brands. Over 1.5 million vehicles a year are produced in 13 manufacturing and assembly operations in eight countries which are then sold and serviced through a network of distributors and dealers covering 172 countries. Kia today has over 42,000 employees worldwide and annual revenues of over US$14.6 billion. It is the major sponsor of the Australian Open and an official automotive partner of FIFA -- the governing body of the FIFA World Cup™. Kia Motors Corporation's brand slogan -- "The Power to Surprise" -- represents the company's global commitment to surpassing customer expectations through continuous automotive innovation.