MISSISSAUGA, ON — July. Canadians wait all year for it. It's a month of sunny days, warm nights and weekends at cottages. Car dealers however greet the month of July with an amount of dread that equals the rest of the population's excitement. Generally, automotive sales are soft during the summer months. Industry sales for this July were down 18% compared to June. However, Kia bucked the trend by recording a 3.6% increase over their June sales.
This increase has given Kia a new record market share of 1.86% in the light vehicle market, quite an achievement for a car company that has just celebrated its second birthday in Canada.
July 2001 was Kia's second best month ever with 2,386 units being sold, falling just short of their record month in May 2001.
Also falling into the noteworthy category is the fact that over the first seven months of this year Kia has sold 14,585 cars. Compared to last year during the same period, 5,724 cars were sold, representing a 255% increase. In fact Kia has already surpassed their total vehicle sales for all of last year when they sold 13,343 vehicles.
With the introduction of the new Sedona minivan, Spectra, Spectra GSX and Rio RX-V to the market for 2002, it seems likely that Mississauga will hear plenty of "Ayeee's" in the months to come.