Kia Motors Corporation announced today its global sales figures (export sales, domestic sales and sales from overseas plants) for passenger cars, recreational vehicles (RVs) and commercial vehicles for May 2013, recording a total of 244,177 units sold. This figure represents a 3% year-on-year increase.

In May, Kia posted a year-on-year sales increases in China of 23.4% (50,238 units sold) and 0.3% in Europe (52,913 units sold). Meanwhile, May sales in Kia's domestic market of Korea, general markets* and North America decreased by 3.1% (39,500 units sold); 2.0% (44,641 units sold) and 0.6% (59,885 units sold), correspondingly. Cumulatively through the first five months of 2013, Kia's global sales have increased by 3.1% year-on-year to reach 1,139,885 units.

Kia's bestselling model in overseas markets for the month of May was the B-segment Rio (known as 'K2' in China) with 44,915 units sold. The C-segment Cerato (known as 'Forte' or 'K3' in some markets) was the second best seller with 35,237 units delivered, while the Sportage compact CUV, Optima D-segment sedan and Sorento mid-size CUV followed with 32,973, 23,387 and 17,470 units sold, respectively.