The final tally showed Kia with 485,492 sales in 2011, reflecting a 36.3 percent increase over its performance 2010; to put that into perspective, the industry as a whole moved ahead by 10.3 percent last year, and only two brands have grown sales at a faster clip than Kia over the past 12 months.
It’s no shock, then, that every single current Kia model expanded sales in 2011 except one, and that vehicle—the Kia Rio—has seen a rising tide of sales since the all-new model was introduced part way through last year. Thus, while the sharp new compact suffered through an 18.3 percent decline in sales overall, recent months have shown far different results, including a 128 percent improvement to deliveries in the last month of 2011.
As for the rest of the Kia crew, the top seller was the Kia Sorento crossover, which posted a 19.5 percent sales increase on the year to move some 130,235 units. And joining the Sorento in six-digit territory—for the very first time—was the Kia Soul. The funky one set an all-time record with 102,267 sales in 2011, reaping a 52.4 percent boost to its bottom line. A key here was no doubt a fairly significant refresh that added further flair to the Soul along with direct injection, a new 2.0-liter engine and fresh six-speed transmissions. Those powertrain upgrades resulted in a typical Kia package that offers both best-in-class horsepower and unsurpassed fuel efficiency. Later this year, Kia also will introduce its Idle Stop and Go system to the Soul, beating all rivals to the punch with this knockout new technology that saves fuel by shutting off the engine when the vehicle comes to a stop, then seamlessly restarts the power once the driver takes his/her foot off the brake.
By far the automaker’s fastest-grower last year, however, was the all-new Kia Optima. Wearing one of the most sophisticated expressions yet of the automaker’s signature design language, Kia’s mid-size sedan has been steadily surging up the sales charts since its introduction and capped off 2011 by posting its best sales of the year in December—when customers snapped up 10,704 Optimas, a whopping 245 percent more than in December of 2010. That brought the Optima’s full-year total to 84,590 sales and its annual growth rate to a company-best mark of 209 percent.
Filling out the account book for 2011:
• The third-generation Kia Sportage elevated sales by 99 percent in its first full year on the market and delivered 47,463 units.
• The Kia Forte and Forte Koup experienced a modest 11.4 percent sales rise to reach 76,295 sales—but also helped Kia take home its first U.S. motorsports title, when the Forte Koup won its class in the 2011 Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge.
• Leveraging a high value proposition as the least-expensive minivan on the market—and named 2011’s “Best Minivan for the Money” by U.S. News & World Report—the Kia Sedona hauled away 24,047 sales last year for a 10.2 percent increase.
All of which left Byung Mo Ahn, group president and CEO of Kia Motor America and its U.S. manufacturing operations, in an expansive mood of his own.
“Kia is a much different company than just three years ago, and with one of the youngest and most acclaimed vehicle lineups in the industry, Kia's customer loyalty rate has dramatically improved and at the same time, more new car shoppers are looking at Kia than ever before as evidenced by our substantial sales and market share gains in 2011," he said.
"The Kia brand is built on a commitment to offering our customers high-quality, stylish, fun-to-drive and fuel efficient vehicles that are packed with the latest technologies, amenities and safety features, and we will continue to deliver on that promise in 2012 and into the future with the introduction of more new models."
