Forty years after it began exporting its products from South Korea, Kia Motors are expected to break through the 15 million mark before the end of this month.
To put that figure into perspective, 15 million Kia Optima saloons, when lined bumper to bumper, would be enough to circumvent the earth 1.8 times. The Kia Rio has been the brand’s most successful export, with almost two-and-a-quarter million units shipped, while over a million examples of the Sportage, Picanto, and Sorento have also left South Korea for overseas markets.
Kia entered the export market in 1975 when it shipped 10 Kia Brisa pick-ups to Qatar, with North America going on to be its most successful market having taken over six million South Korean-built Kias so far. Of the total 3.35 million Kias exported to Europe a fifth have been sold in the UK.
Kia’s export figures from its four South Korean manufacturing plants have increased sharply over time. From 1975 it took 30 years to pass the 5 million mark, and then the 10 million milestone quickly followed in March 2011. Production at Kia’s South Korean factories has more than doubled since the turn of the millennium, rising from 800,000 units annually to 1.71 million units last year. Kia’s global expansion has also seen manufacturing plants open in the US state Georgia, as well as Slovakia and China, with a new production facility in Mexico currently under construction.
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