Kia Motors sells 187,844 units in February... 5% decrease YoY due to 'COVID-19' impact

Domestic Sales Down 13.7%... "Impact of Shipment Delays"

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Ji-hee] Kia Motors announced on the 2nd that it sold 187,844 units globally in February, a 5% decrease compared to the same period last year (28,681 units domestically, 159,163 units overseas). Compared to the same period last year, domestic and overseas sales decreased by 13.7% and 3.2%, respectively.

A Kia Motors official stated, "The decrease in Kia's domestic sales performance last month was due to reduced factory production caused by the novel coronavirus infection (hereafter COVID-19), which prevented deliveries from keeping up with contracted volumes," adding, "We will conduct special overtime work this month to recover the production shortfall that occurred in February as quickly as possible."

The production disruption at Kia's domestic plants caused by delays in the supply of Chinese-made parts due to the spread of COVID-19 in China is estimated to be about 40,000 units. However, Kia expects that the wiring harness production will no longer affect vehicle production as the local Chinese factory has resumed normal operations.

The best-selling model in the domestic market last month was the K5 (4,349 units), ranking first in Kia's monthly sales for three consecutive months. Passenger car sales totaled 13,552 units, including 3,310 units of the Morning and 2,851 units of the K7.

In the recreational vehicle (RV) segment, the Seltos sold the most with 2,869 units. This was followed by the Carnival with 2,510 units, Sorento with 1,998 units, and Niro with 1,935 units. Commercial models recorded a total of 3,691 units sold, including 3,584 units of the Bongo III, combining buses and trucks.

Regarding overseas sales performance, sales decreased by 3.2% compared to the same period last year due to weakened consumer sentiment in the Chinese market, which was directly hit by COVID-19.

By model, the Sportage led overseas sales with 24,390 units sold, followed by the Seltos with 22,260 units and the Rio (Pride) with 19,428 units.

A Kia Motors official said, "Although the vehicles recently launched by Kia have been highly recognized for their quality and have received much love from customers, it is regrettable that we could not respond promptly to customer support due to production disruptions caused by COVID-19," adding, "We hope the COVID-19 situation will end as soon as possible for the safety and health of the public, and Kia will do its best to repay customer support."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.