Kia posts 10.3% sales jump in October, driven by gains at home and abroad

Kia sold 291,219 units globally in October, up 10.3% from the same period a year earlier, the automaker announced Monday. The figures are based on wholesale sales.

By model, the compact SUV Sportage led all nameplates with 56,811 units sold worldwide, followed by the subcompact SUV Seltos at 38,368 units and the midsize Sorento at 20,021 units.

In the domestic market, Kia sold 51,007 units last month, a 27.5% increase year on year.

The Sportage was the top-selling model at home with 7,708 units. Passenger car sales totaled 11,116 units, led by the Ray at 4,497 units, the K5 at 1,683 units and the Morning at 1,495 units.

Recreational vehicle sales came to 34,373 units, with the Sorento posting 6,784 units, the Carnival 5,570 units and the Seltos 4,816 units, in addition to the Sportage.

Commercial vehicle sales reached 5,518 units, including 2,704 units of the Bongo III and 2,688 units of the PV5.

Overseas sales rose 7.2% over the same period to 239,308 units.

The Sportage also topped international sales with 49,103 units sold abroad, followed by the Seltos at 33,552 units and the K4 at 18,720 units.

Special-purpose vehicle sales totaled 904 units — 103 domestically and 801 overseas.

"We have sustained year-on-year sales growth for eight consecutive months through sales strategies tailored to regional demand," a Kia official said. "We will continue to build on that momentum through the remainder of the fourth quarter, focusing on hybrid vehicles in the United States and electric vehicles in Europe."

Meanwhile, Kia has prepared purchase benefits and customer events through Dec. 31 to coincide with the K-Sale Festa, a major domestic shopping festival.

Customers who take delivery of a new vehicle in November can receive discounts of up to 11 percent on 16 models — up to 10,000 units in total — through the "Giteukhaan Festa" promotion.

The discounts by model are: Sorento and Tasman at 11 percent; K9, EV6 and Bongo EV at 10 percent; Bongo LPG at 9 percent; Carnival, K5, K8, EV3, EV4 and EV9 at 8 percent; EV5 and PV5 at 7 percent; Niro at 6 percent; and Sportage at 5 percent.

A separate promotion running throughout November offers purchase benefits of up to 1 million won ($748) on approximately 1,000 exhibition vehicles across all models. Customers who combine the K-Sale Festa discount with the exhibition vehicle promotion could save up to approximately 5.5 million won on the Sorento.