Kia achieves best quarter on record

Posted by Premier Automotive - Wednesday, 10th April 2024

• Kia achieves its best quarter on record following strong start to the year across all three months
• Fourth best-selling brand in the UK, year-to-date
• Second best-selling brand for electrified sales
• Sportage leads the way for Kia sales, followed by Niro and Ceed families
• Niro EV the 7th best-selling EV in the UK in Q1
• Kia EV9 starts its first full year of sales strongly

Kia UK has achieved a record first quarter in 2024, thanks to sales of its popular model lineup throughout every month so far this year, which also marks the brand’s best-ever quarter since the brand entered the UK market.

March concluded the first quarter with Kia posting 18,478 sales, making it the fifth best-selling brand in the month with a market share of 5.8 per cent. Throughout Q1, Kia sold 33,084 new vehicles, giving the brand a current year-to-date market share of 6.1 per cent, an all-time record for Q1 performance.

Kia maintained its position as the second best-selling brand for electrified (EV, PHEV, and hybrid) sales throughout Q1, with 16,315 cars sold and an 8.1 per cent market share. Electrified sales make up 49 per cent of all Kia UK sales so far in 2024.

Leading sales was the Kia Sportage with 13,632 sold in Q1 and stamping its authority as the third best-selling car in the UK this year, and in March alone. With global sales of Sportage throughout March surpassing 53,000, the UK contributed almost 14 per cent of all Sportage sales for the brand worldwide.

The Sportage was followed closely by the Niro family, chalking up 5,816 sales throughout Q1, with the two models together securing Kia’s position as the best-selling brand in the compact-SUV segment. The success of the Niro family was bolstered by sales of the fully electric Niro EV, Kia’s best-selling fully electric model throughout 2024. The Niro EV is the seventh best-selling EV in the UK, YTD.

The Ceed family, consisting of the five-door hatchback, Sportswagon estate, ProCeed shooting brake and XCeed compact crossover continues as Kia’s third best-selling model family, with sales totalling 4,828 in Q1.

Globally, Kia posted sales of 272,026 units in March, 760,529 YTD, led by the ever-popular Sportage.

Kia has hit the ground running in 2024, starting with the reveal of three ‘Platform Beyond Vehicle’ (PBV) concepts at CES, Las Vegas – destined to be Kia’s first electric light commercial vehicles (eLCVs). The brand also opened the all-new Kia Academy in Derby; a state-of-the-art technical training facility designed to welcome more than 1,500 apprentices and adult learners per year.

On the awards-front, it has been a successful start to 2024 for the brand. The Kia EV9, which started sales in January, has been the recipient of multiple high-profile awards including ‘UK Car of the Year 2024’ and most recently 2024’s ‘World Car of the Year’. This momentum for the EV9 translated to sales, as Kia sold just shy of 1,000 units in the UK since the start of the year, as the fully electric seven-seat SUV outshined a number of premium rivals.

A record-breaking quarter of sales follow Kia’s consistent success throughout 2023, which ended with 107,765 cars sold – the best sales year in Kia UK’s history and the second consecutive year of over 100,000 sales.