Kia hits 10 million export milestone
Kia Motors celebrated the export of its 10-millionth unit yesterday at Pyeongtaek port in Gyeonggi with the loading of K5 sedans to North America. Around 400 officials including Kia Motors Vice Chairman Lee Hyung-keun and Gyeonggi Governor Kim Moon-soo attended the ceremony. Provided by the company
Total exports by Kia Motors, Korea’s second-largest automaker, surpassed 10 million units yesterday as K5 sedans to North America were loaded at Pyeongtaek port in Gyeonggi.
Kia’s exports began with a shipment of 10 pickup trucks to Qatar in 1975. It took 30 years for Kia to reach the 5 million unit export mark in 2005, but it only took six more years to export another 5 million cars.
In the 1980s, it exported vehicles to only 10 countries. Today, the number has increased to 156 nations.
Out of total exports, 42.7 percent, or around 4.27 million units, have been shipped to North America, which it entered in 1986 after other foreign markets.
Among the other regions, 24.5 percent of its exports were shipped to Europe, 13.7 percent to Africa and the Middle East, 10.3 percent to Latin America, and 8.8 percent to Asia.
The automaker’s exports were dominated by the Morning compact car with 764,453 units, followed by the Pride with 757,554 units and the Sorrento with 656,446 units.
The average price of models exported by Kia increased from around $1,400 in 1975 to nearly $12,000 last year.
Annual export sales were $100 million in 1987, but rose to $5 billion in 2003, $10 billion in 2005 and $11.2 billion last year. According to the automaker, annual sales volume in 2010 accounted for 2.4 percent of Korea’s total exports.
“With its surpassing of the 10 million unit export mark, Kia Motors will continue to work to become a company that contributes greatly to the nation and community,” said Lee Hyung-keun, a vice chairman of Kia Motors, during the ceremony in Pyeongtaek yesterday.
According to the automaker, the height of all 10 million cars piled on top of each other would be 1,790 times higher than Mount Everest, assuming each car was 1.6 meters high.
The number only includes vehicles shipped from Korea. Overseas sales of Kia Motors reached 1,647,019 vehicles in 2010, including those produced at overseas plants.
The popularity of Kia vehicles in Asia is growing fast with its cars becoming one of the 10 best-selling brands last month for the first time in China, the world’s largest automobile market.
Global sales of Kia Motors increased by an average 12 percent since 2004, better than the global industry average of 1.9 percent. Kia said it will strengthen its position by further improving its brand image and competitiveness with new and eco-friendly technologies.
By Lee Eun-joo [angie@joongang.co.kr]
with the Korea JoongAng Daily
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