Kia's Aug. sales rise 10 pct despite chip shortage

SEOUL, Sept. 1 (Yonhap) -- Kia Corp., South Korea's second-largest automaker, said Thursday its sales rose 10 percent last month from a year earlier despite an extended chip shortage.

Kia sold a total of 239,887 vehicles in August, up from 217,226 units a year ago on robust overseas demand for its SUV models, the company said in a statement.

Domestic sales rose 1 percent on-year to 41,404 units last month from 41,003, while exports jumped 13 percent to 198,483 from 176,223 during the cited period on higher demand for the Sportage and Seltos SUVs, it said.

From January to August, sales climbed 0.8 percent to 1,919,106 autos from 1,904,053 units during the same period of last year.

Kia aims to sell 3.15 million vehicles globally this year.

kyongae.choi@yna.co.kr
(END)