Kia's Dec. sales plunge 6.5 pct on weak overseas demand

SEOUL, Jan. 2 (Yonhap) -- Kia Motors Corp. said Thursday its sales fell 6.5 percent last month from a year earlier due to weak overseas sales.

Kia Motors sold 225,446 vehicles in December, down from 241,199 units a year ago, due to sluggish sales in China and emerging markets, the company said in a statement.

Domestic sales rose 16 percent on-year to 49,130 units last month from 42,200. But overseas sales declined 11 percent to 176,316 vehicles from 198,999 during the same period, it said.

For the whole of 2019, sales dropped 1.5 percent to 2,770,693 from 2,812,200 the year before, the statement said.

kyongae.choi@yna.co.kr
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