Kia Motors hits new European production record in 2014

Kia Motors Slovakia broke its European production record in 2014, producing more than 323,000 cars – a 3 percent increase over 2013 – at its Žilina production facility. A small increase in engine production to 493,000 units also represented a new record.

The most popular model to roll off the production line was the Kia Sportage compact SUV, which represented 55 percent of the total vehicle output from the plant. The cee’d model family – incorporating hatchback, sportswagon and three-door pro cee’d – accounted for 36 percent of output and the Kia Venga made up the remaining 9 percent.

“I am very proud we accomplished such amazing production results last year. At the same time, we were able to confirm our position as a leading manufacturing plant in the whole Hyundai Motor Group. I would like to sincerely thank all of our employees for their creativity and huge enthusiasm for work. I believe that this year, thanks to the new models that we will introduce to our customers, we will again be able to fully use our production capacity," said Eek-Hee Lee, president and CEO of Kia Motors Slovakia.

The biggest markets for the Žilina plant’s vehicle output remained Russia (18 percent), United Kingdom (13 percent), Germany (9 percent), Italy (6 percent) and Spain (6 percent).

Of the 493,000 engines produced at the plant in 2014, almost half were delivered to Hyundai’s facility in the Czech Republic. The 1.6-litre petrol power unit made up 22 percent of engine output, and petrol engines constituted over 50 percent of total engine production at the Žilina facility last year.