Kia's Sept. sales rise 11 pct despite chip shortage

SEOUL, Oct. 4 (Yonhap) -- Kia Corp., South Korea's second-largest automaker, said Tuesday its sales rose 11 percent last month from a year earlier despite an extended chip shortage.

Kia sold a total of 249,146 vehicles in September, up from 224,357 units a year ago on robust overseas demand for its SUV models, the company said in a statement.

Domestic sales climbed 12 percent on-year to 40,009 units last month from 35,801, while exports were up 11 percent to 209,137 from 188,556 during the cited period on higher demand for the Sportage and Seltos SUVs, it said.

From January to September, sales climbed 2 percent to 2,171,274 autos from 2,128,410 units during the same period of last year.

Kia aims to sell 3.15 million vehicles globally this year.

kyongae.choi@yna.co.kr
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