Kia Motors Corporation recorded a 26 percent increase in its global sales for passenger cars (export sales, domestic sales and sales from overseas plants), recreational vehicles (RVs) and commercial vehicles in July 2010 for a total of 180,930 units sold year-on-year. In July, Kia posted healthy year-on-year sales increases in all sales regions: 59.6 percent in general markets (38,797 units sold), 29.6 percent in Korea (45,100 units sold), 19.2 percent in North America (41,071 units sold), 16.7 percent in Europe (32,257 units sold) and 6.0 percent in China (23,705 units sold). Cumulatively, through the first seven months of 2010, Kia's global sales increased by 32.8 percent year-on-year and reaching 1,185,654 units. China and general markets have experienced the highest gains to date in 2010 of 62.6 percent (194,682 units sold) and 57.6 percent (253,116 units sold), respectively. The remaining regions have all showed cumulative strong double digit year-on-year sales increases: 25.2 percent in Europe (226,921 units sold), 20.2 percent in Korea (273,289 units sold), and 16.5 percent in North America (237,646 units sold). Kia's best selling model in overseas markets for the month of July was the C-segment Cerato (known as “Forte” in some markets) with 31,704 units sold. The B-segment Rio and Sorento mid-size CUV follow with 19,636 and 15,527 units sold, respectively. The Sportage compact CUV comes in fourth with 14,135 units sold and the Soul urban crossover vehicle rounds out the top five with 13,113 units sold. In terms of vehicle category sold overseas, Kia's recreational vehicles and passenger cars achieved year-on-year increases in July of 35.6 percent (52,635 units) and 16.3 percent (77,960 units), respectively. Hyoung-Keun Lee, president of Kia Motors Corporation, said “our strong sales results in all regions in July further underline that the Kia brand is being embraced by new customers around the world thanks to our ongoing commitment to providing high-quality vehicles that are hard to beat in terms of styling, fuel economy, and high-tech and convenience features. And with the all-new Sportage CUV and Optima sedan, we expect that the Kia brand will continue to be on the short
