Kia's million milestone | Car Talk - Car News Jan 2019

14:25 Friday 18 Jan 2019

A major milestone has been hit by Kia this month, as the Korean manufacturer sold its one millionth car in the UK.

Kia entered the UK marked in 1991 with the Pride, selling 1,786 in the first year. Fast foward to 2018, a year in which Kia sold a record 95,764 units in the UK. Just under 50,000 Kia cars were sold in the first decade, and after 20 years Kia had delivered just 372,000 cars to UK customers, but spectacular growth in the brand’s appeal during its third decade has seen sales skyrocket.

The magic millionth model is a blue Sportage GT-Line, sold by Dunfermline-based Flear and Thompson to new owner Dr Fergus Duncan. The Sportage has been Kia’s most popular UK model, selling 241,912 since 1995.

Paul Philpott, President and Chief Executive at Kia in the UK said: “The Kia brand started in the UK with sensible, budget-focused vehicles but during the last decade in particular our customer-base has grown on the back of outstanding design, unmatchable quality and the reassurance of our industry-leading seven year warranty. I don’t know just when we will reach the 2 million mark, but we are all looking forward to the journey to that point and it will be an exciting ride that I am sure will see the nature of the motoring world change quite considerably,”