Kia’s global sales in 2011 were a record 2,478,959, the company reported, an increase of 18.6% on 2010 and the first time the company has passed 2.4m sales.
Sales in North America were up 34.2% at 550,615; in China there were up 30.1% at 461,618 and in Europe up 22.1% at 478,192. Sales in its domestic market rose 1.8% to 493,003 units.
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Kia’s bestselling model in overseas markets in 2011 was the C-segment Cee’d/Cerato/Forte with 410,709 units sold. Second best-seller was the Sportage compact SUV (331,033) followed by the B-segment Rio (282,776). The fourth best-seller was the mid-size Sorento SUV (220,783) while the Soul urban crossover vehicle rounded out the top five with 180,109 units sold.
“In spite of a challenging global economic outlook, we look forward to maintaining our momentum in 2012 by satisfying customers thorough strengthened quality control from raw materials to completed vehicles while continuing to raise the stature of the Kia brand in all global markets,” said Thomas Oh, Kia’s chief operating officer.
