Kia Motors Corporation has announced total sales of 216,945 units in August, a 5.2 percent decrease compared to the same period last year. Kia

The Sportage SUV topped Kia’s global sales rankings with 31,288 units sold, followed by the Seltos SUV with 30,714 units and the K5 sedan with 18,882 units.

Sales in Korea decreased by 11.3 percent year-over-year to 38,463 units as production line upgrades at a domestic factory temporarily reduced supply. The Sorento, released in March 2020, and the K5, released in December 2019, were the best-selling SUV and sedan in Korea, respectively.

Sales outside of Korea
Sales in overseas markets dropped by 3.7 percent from a year earlier to 178,482 units, affected by a slowdown in economic activities due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. With sales of 10,845 units in August 2020 and 74% year-on-year growth, Kia Motors India contributed 5% to Kia’s global sales last month. The Seltos, which sold 10,655 units in India, accounted for 35% of global sales of the SUV.  

Kia Motor Corp expects renewed sales momentum in the second half of the year thanks to a strong line-up of new models including the Sonet SUV – set for release in India on September 18. The Korean carmaker has a strong export strategy in place for the Sonet compact SUV, which drew 6,523 bookings on the first day of online bookings opening in India.  

According to Kookhyun Shim, MD and CEO, Kia Motors India, “With 30+ segment-best features and Kia’s renowned design language, quality and reliability, we are confident of recreating history with Sonet which is slated to be launched on the 18th of this month. Also, we are initiating our plan to establish India as an export hub with Sonet, catering to 70+ countries from our state-of-the-art Anantapur manufacturing unit.”