[By NBC-1TV H. J Yook]Kia Motors Corporation announced today its global sales figures for passenger cars (export sales, domestic sales and sales from overseas plants), recreational vehicles (RVs) and commercial vehicles for Aprill 2011, recording a total of 214,817 units sold. This figure represents a year-on-year increase of 23.1%.

In April, Kia posted strong double digit year-on-year sales increases in all regions of the world – 53.5% in North America (53,851 units sold), 23.0% in China (34,538 units sold), 19.9% in Europe* (40,648 units sold), 11.2% in general markets* (43,278 units sold), and 10.4% in Korea (42,502 units sold).

Cumulatively, through the first four months of 2011, Kia’s global sales have increased by 20.9% year-on-year to reach 780,172 units. North America has experienced the highest gain to date in 2011 of 40.5% (170,938 units sold) while the remaining regions have all showed strong cumulative double digit year-on-year sales increases: 18.3% in general markets (162,465 units sold), 17.0% in Korea (168,133 units sold), 15.1% in China (136,067 units sold) and 14.4% in Europe (142,569 units sold).

Kia’s best selling model in overseas markets for the month of March was the C-segment Cerato (known as ‘Forte’ in some markets) with 39,936 units sold. The Sportage compact CUV and B-segment Rio follow with 27,956 and 19,237 units sold, respectively. The Sorento mid-size CUV was Kia’s fourth best seller overseas with 18,659 units sold and the Soul urban crossover vehicle rounds out the top five with 17,645 units sold.

Senior Executive Vice President & COO of Kia Motors Corporation, Thomas Oh, said, “The U.S. market has been a pleasant surprise for Kia in 2011 as we continue to record consecutive best-ever sales months. Meanwhile, Europe posted its best monthly year-on-year sales increase so far in 2011 and we expect both of these regions to continue to drive our global sales growth as new fuel efficient models like the all-new Rio and Picanto commence full-fledged sales in the coming months.”