Kia’s Mohave hits the streets

Kia CEO Cho Nam-hong, far right, and labor union leader Kim Sang-gu, second from right, marked the release of the new Mohave SUV yesterday in Apgujeong, southern Seoul. [YONHAP]

Kia Motors yesterday introduced its first new sport-utility vehicle in two years, the Mohave.
Kia Motors, an affiliate of Korea’s largest automotive group, Hyundai Motor, hopes to sell 48,000 of the SUVs at home and abroad this year.
The Mohave is priced from 32.8 million won ($35,000) to 44 million won, making it the company’s most expensive model after its upscale Opirus sedan.
“We will introduce a total of five new models, including the Mohave,” Kia Chief Executive Cho Nam-hong told reporters yesterday. “We are confident that we can achieve a turnaround [from red to black] this year.”
Kia Motors posted an operating loss of 153.1 billion won for the first three quarters of last year as the company spent heavily to build new plants in the United States and Slovakia, construction of which will be completed by the end of this year.
The strong won also dealt a blow to the firm’s overseas sales. The rapidly expanding presence of foreign cars, whose market share here reached a record 5.1 percent last year, also intensified anxieties among local carmakers.
Hyundai and Kia currently have a combined local market share of about 75 percent.
Kia said it spent more than 230 billion won over the past 29 months to develop the Mohave. The company hopes to get a foothold in the sport-utility and premium car markets here and abroad with the new model.
Total sales of sport-utility vehicles in Korea rose nearly 50 percent last year to 25,219 units, from 17,177 units in 2006.
The company, which plans to release the model in the United States as the Borrego in the second half of the year, said it aims to sell about 80,000 units, including 20,000 units at home and 60,000 units abroad, through 2009.
Kia Motors said earlier this week it plans to sell 1.7 million autos, worth 23 trillion won in 2008, up from last year’s 1.4 million vehicles, worth 19 trillion won.

By Jung Ha-won Staff Reporter [hawon@joongang.co.kr]