Kia Motors sells 516,050 units in Q2 CY2020, down 28%

Kia Motors Corporation today announced a 27.8 percent year-on-year decrease in its global vehicle sales in Q2 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic impacted auto demand around the world.

The Korean carmaker sold a total of 516,050 vehicles on a wholesale basis in the April-June 2020 period, compared with 714,829 units during the second quarter of 2019. Strong consumer demand in Korea helped mitigate the negative impacts caused by the spread of Covid-19 in other regions, including the US, Europe, and India. Sales in Korea increased to 161,548 units during Q2, up 26.8 percent, while sales outside Korea fell 39.7 percent to 354,502 units over the same period.

Kia Motors recorded sales revenue of KRW 11.37 trillion in Q2 of 2020, 21.6 percent lower than the KRW 14.51 trillion reported over the same period in 2019. Operating profit decreased to KRW 145.1 billion, down 72.8 percent year-on-year. Quarterly net profit declined to KRW 126.3 billion, 75 percent lower than Q2 in 2019.

Despite reduced sales in many regions, however, an improved product mix, coupled with favourable exchange rates, helped limit the decline in revenue and profit as the company’s latest SUV models, such as the all-new Sorento, Seltos and Telluride, proved popular.
 

H1 2020: 1,164,735 units, down 15.4%

Kia sold a total of 1,164,735 vehicles in the first half, down 15.4 percent, year-on-year. Sales in Korea reached 278,287 units, a 14.6 percent increase from the previous year, while overseas sales declined 21.8 percent, year-on-year, to 886,448 units.

First-half sales revenue fell 3.8 percent, year-on-year, to KRW 25.94 trillion; operating profit for the first six months fell 47.7 percent to KRW 589.6 billion. Net profit fell 66 percent to 392.3 billion won.

Growth outlook

To fight the adverse market environment stemming from the pandemic, Kia Motors says it plans to guard profitability and market competitiveness with pioneering new models, while optimising production capacity to best cope with the recovery in market demand.

Furthermore, Kia will continue its risk management efforts to minimise the impacts of the COVID-19 to its businesses. The company is implementing various schemes to support customers, such as launching new models online.

Despite the tough business environment, Kia will continue to focus on realizing its ‘Plan S’ mid- to long-term strategy. Under Plan S, Kia aims to proactively introduce 11 battery electric vehicles and increase its operating profit margin to 6 percent by 2025.