By region, Kia posted year-on-year sales increases in North America (550,615 units, a 34.2% year-on-year increase), China (461,618 units sold, a 30.1% year-on-year increase), Europe (478,192 units, a 22.1% year-on-year increase), general markets (495,531 units sold, a 10.6% year-on-year increase), and Korea (493,003 units, a 1.8% year-on-year increase).

Kia includes both Western and Eastern European markets in its “Europe” category. In 2011, 289,785 units were sold in Western Europe for a 12.2% year-on-year gain, while 188,407 units were sold in Eastern Europe for a 41.1% year on year gain.

“General markets” include the regions of Central and South America, the Caribbean, Asia (excluding China and Korea), the Pacific, Middle East and Africa.

For the month of December 2011, strong sales growth was achieved in North America (46,809 units sold, a 39.8% year-on-year increase), China (47,143 units sold, a 37.9% year-on-year increase), Europe (36,619 units, a 17.4% year-on-year increase) and general markets (39,070 units, a 5.1% year-on-year increase). Korea (45,056 units sold) saw a slight decrease in December year-on-year sales, falling by 0.4%.

Kia’s bestselling model in overseas markets in 2011 was the C-segment Cerato (known as ‘Forte’ in some markets) with 410,709 units sold. Kia’s Sportage compact CUV and B-segment Rio followed with 331,033 and 282,776 units sold, respectively. The Sorento mid-size CUV came in fourth with 220,783 units sold, while the Soul urban crossover vehicle rounded out the top five with 180,109 units sold.