Kia's April sales rise 8.3% despite chip shortage

This photo, released by Kia shows the all-electric EV9 flagship SUV that it will launch in the domestic market in the second quarter, March 29. Yonhap

Kia, Korea's second-largest automaker, said Tuesday its sales rose 8.3 percent last month from a year earlier on improved production and product mix amid eased chip supply disruptions.

Kia, a smaller affiliate of Hyundai Motor, sold 259,524 vehicles in April, up from 239,539 units a year ago, the company said in a statement.

Domestic sales fell 1.8 percent on-year to 49,086 units last month from 49,969, while overseas sales were up 11 percent to 209,945 from 189,329 during the cited period on higher demand for the Sportage, Sorento and Seltos SUVs, it said.

From January to April, sales jumped 11 percent to 1,027,775 autos from 925,277 units in the same period of last year.

In 2023, the company set a sales goal of 3.2 million units, including overseas sales of 2.6 million. (Yonhap)