Kia announces strong first-half 2011 financial results

Kia Motors Corporation has announced un-audited consolidated first-half 2011 financial results which show strong sales and revenue growth across all global regions.

Global retail sales in the first six months of 2011 were up 19.9% (1.2 million units) compared to the same period in 2010 with all regions reporting increases in volume.

Kia's domestic market of South Korea remains the largest region in terms of volume and reported a rise of 8.9%, up to 248,000 units, with a market share of 33.5%.

The strongest growth came from the United States, the second largest market for Kia, with a comparative rise of 44.1% up to 245,000 units. Despite a depressed market in Europe (down 2.4%) Kia reported an increase of 0.7% with record first-half sales of 137,000 units.

Global revenue increased by 30.5% to 22,238 billion Korean Won (KRW) compared to the first half of 2010. New and recently-launched models such as the A-segment Picanto hatchback and the Sportage crossover resulted in a 2011 Q2 performance up some 8.7% on the first three months of the year.

All regions saw strong revenue growth with the United States showing the most significant rise of 54.1% to 6,688 billion KRW. Europe experienced growth of 24.2% (6,062 billion KRW) whilst Korea grew by 21.2% to 9,123 billion KRW and remained Kia's largest market.

Gross profit for the first half of 2011 is up 32.9% over the same period in 2010 at 4,870 billion KRW and operating profit has increased by 69.5% over the same period at 1,872 billion KRW.