Kia Motors recorded its best ever month for export sales in October, selling 63,524 cars.
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Of that total, 50,204 were complete vehicles and the remaining 13,320 were knock down kit (CKD) models. The export figures represent a 28% increase over October 2001 and exceed the previous record of 61,636 cars sold in November 2001 by 3%.
The number of whole cars exported surpasses the 47,583 units sold in November 2000 by 5.5%.
Kia chief operating officer Mark Juhn said: “These numbers clearly show that Kia is developing into one of the most competitive brands on the car market today. Improvements in quality and styling along with more focused pre-marketing activities are increasingly making Kia a brand of choice in many markets around the world.”
“Results such as these put us firmly on track to achieve our goal of becoming a top five global car maker by 2002.”
Top sellers by model were the Rio (10,183), the Carnival (8,876) and the new Sorento SUV, which has firmly established itself as one of Kia’s top selling models with 8,728 sales.
By region, the United States remains Kia’s largest export market with 24, 870 sales in October. Western Europe is second with 12,011 and the Asia Pacific is third with 2,911.
