Kia's March sales rise 11 pct despite chip shortage

Kia-March sales

Kia's March sales rise 11 pct despite chip shortage

SEOUL, April 3 (Yonhap) -- Kia Corp., South Korea's second-largest automaker, said Monday its sales rose 11 percent last month from a year earlier on improved product mix and production despite a lingering chip shortage.

Kia, a smaller affiliate of Hyundai Motor Co., sold a total of 278,275 vehicles in March, up from 251,027 units a year ago, the company said in a statement.

Domestic sales climbed 18 percent on-year to 53,046 units last month from 45,025, while overseas sales were up 9.2 percent to 224,911 from 205,881 during the cited period on higher demand for the Sportage, Sorento and Seltos SUVs, it said.

From January to March, its sales were up 12 percent to 767,700 autos from 685,738 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.

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