Picanto News: Kia Set Record Sales In 2005

Well it looks to have been a great finish to the year for Kia Motors with record sales in 2005.

And of course who should lead the way? You guessed it, the little Kia Picanto. With 85,921 units sold, up an impressive 49% over 2004, the Picanto has been central to Kia's sales strategy given that the model was only launched several years ago.

On announcing a 22.6% year-on-year increase (811,676 units) from January through December of last year, Kia said it exported 840,056 vehicles, which is a 10.5% rise over the same period of last year. And while other so called "well established" brands reported a decline in sales during December, Europe became Kia's biggest market with sales totalling 27,739 vehicles.

For the year, 319,611 Kia vehicles were sold in Europe, that's an incredible 45.7% year-on-year increase, almost half their sales again! But it was not just in Europe where Kia excelled, as 303,880 vehicles were sold in North America, a 2.5% year-on-year increase, and 188,185 cars were sold in the general market, 28.6% year-on-year increase.

Although it's great news for Kia, it's not all good news for the UK dealer. A lack of certain product, due to this huge demand, continue's to frustrate the network as they have ready made customers for the product. And as we constantly report, delays on Picanto SE+ and the diesel in the showrooms are effected by this global success.

Throughout 2005, 417,920 passenger cars were sold in overseas markets, with the A-segment Picanto leading the pack (117,939 units sold). Meanwhile, 329,990 recreational vehicles were sold overseas, with the award-winning Sorento SUV accounting for 117,827 of the total.

Oh happy days!