Kia Motors America Announces All-Time Quarterly Sales Record

IRVINE, Calif., Oct. 1, 2010 Kia Motors America (KMA) today announced sales of 30,071 vehicles in September, a 39-percent increase over the same period last year and an all-time sales record for the month of September. Kia’s sales were led for the ninth consecutive month by the 2011 Sorento CUV, which posted sales of more than 10,000 units for the first time since its debut. The monthly sales record is Kia’s second in the past three months and sixth overall in 2010 and helped the brand achieve its best quarterly sales total in company history at 97,955 units.

KMA’s year-to-date sales of 268,024 units are up 12.3-percent over 2009 and the company is on pace to achieve its 16th consecutive year of market share growth. Kia’s growing stable of new vehicles resulting from the brand’s design-led transformation the 2010 Soul, Forte and Forte Koup; and the 2011 Sorento and the all-new 2011 Sportage accounted for 76.7-percent of sales in September.

“Our record sales, including Sorento’s best performance ever with more than 10,000 units sold, are a result of the brand’s complete design and product transformation that continues to drive more style-conscious consumers to Kia retail showrooms,” said Byung Mo Ahn, group president and CEO of KMA and Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia (KMMG). “The most aggressive new vehicle launch cycle in the auto industry will continue with the arrivals of the functional Forte 5-door later this month and the highly anticipated all-new 2011 Optima midsize sedan in November.”

About Kia Motors America
Kia Motors America (KMA) is the marketing and distribution arm of Kia Motors Corporation based in Seoul, South Korea. KMA offers a complete line of vehicles through more than 700 dealers throughout the United States. For 2009, KMA recorded its 15th consecutive year of increased U.S. market share. Kia Motors subscribes to a philosophy of building high value, high quality, safe and dynamic vehicles. Kia Motors prides itself on producing vehicles that are exciting and enabling and evoke the Kia tagline “The Power to Surprise.”

Kia Motors America is the Official Automotive Partner of the NBA. Information about Kia Motors America and its full vehicle line-up is available at its Web site www.kia.com. For media information, including photography, visit www.kiamedia.com.

MONTH OF SEPTEMBER
YEAR-TO-DATE
Model
2010
2009
2010
2009
Rio
1,638
2,811
20,891

23,234

Spectra
6
462
265
46,694
Forte
5,116
4,449
51,728
12,396
Optima
2,024
5,986

21,222
30,830
Amanti
14
47

240
3,556
Sportage
391
1,938

11,566
38,896
MY’11 Sportage
2,497
n/a

5,221
n/a
Sorento
3
854

776
18,513
MY’11 Sorento
10,112
n/a

78,174
n/a
Sedona
1,706
1,297

17,217
23,717
Rondo
111
653

3,387
11,731
Borrego
1,107
667

8,313
4,766
Soul
5,346
2,459

49,024
24,237
Total
30,071
21,623

268,024
238,570