Kia sees record Q1 sales of hybrids, high-value vehicles
Kia, South Korea's second-largest automaker, on Friday reported record sales for the first quarter, backed by robust demand for hybrid and high-margin vehicles, although operating profit dropped due to a base effect
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Seoul: Kia, South Korea's second-largest automaker, on Friday reported record sales for the first quarter, backed by robust demand for hybrid and high-margin vehicles, although operating profit dropped due to a base effect.
Kia's sales during the January-March period gained 6.9 per cent from a year earlier to 28.01 trillion won (US$19.53 billion) on a consolidated basis, setting an all-time high for a first quarter, the company said in a regulatory filing.
Operating profit totalled 3 trillion won for the quarter, down 12.2 per cent on-year, while net profit dropped 14.8 per cent to 2.39 trillion won. Although reporting record first-quarter sales, the earnings fell behind market expectations. The average estimate of net profit by analysts stood at 2.46 trillion won, according to a survey by Yonhap Infomax, the financial data firm of Yonhap News Agency.
In the January-March period, Kia sold a total of 772,648 vehicles globally, up 1.6 per cent from the same period a year earlier.
