Kia’s global sales for the first quarter reached 772,351 units, setting a new record and surpassing the previous high 11 years ago.
On Tuesday, Kia announced that it sold 772,351 units in the global market during the first quarter of this year, marking a 1.6% increase compared to last year. This figure breaks Kia’s previous first-quarter sales record of 769,917 units in the first quarter of 2014.
In the South Korean market, sales fell 2.3% year-on-year to 134,412 units in the first quarter. However, overseas sales rose by 2.4% to 637,051 units, and special vehicle sales surged by 18.6% to 888 units, contributing to the new record.
A Kia spokesperson stated, “The strong performance of our SUV lineup, including the recently launched EV3, Sportage, and Sorento, has driven our record-breaking first-quarter sales. We aim to maintain this momentum with upcoming competitive models like the EV4 and Tasman.”
For March, Kia’s global sales totaled 278,058 units, a 2.2% increase from the same period in the previous year. Sales in the South Korean market accounted for 50,056 units, while overseas sales reached 227,724 units, showing gains of 2.0% and 2.2%, respectively. Special vehicle sales also saw a 12.3% uptick, reaching 328 units.
The Sportage led global sales in March with 49,196 units sold, followed by the Sorento (25,942 units) and the Seltos (25,790 units).
The Sorento topped March sales in the South Korean market with 10,155 units. Other popular models included the Carnival (7,710 units), Sportage (6,617 units), and Seltos (5,351 units), contributing to a total of 35,502 recreational vehicle (RV) sales. Passenger vehicle sales were led by the Ray (4,584 units), K5 (2,863 units), and K8 (2,704 units), totaling 10,956 units. Commercial vehicle sales, including 3,419 units of the Bongo III, reached 3,548 units in the South Korean market.
Overseas, the top-selling models in March were the Sportage (42,579 units), Seltos (20,439 units), and K3 (including K4, 18,200 units).