Kia plans to sell 18,000 units of the new model, called Soul, by the end of the year, and will boost annual sales to 136,000 units from next year, the Seoul-based automaker said in a statement. Exports to Europe and the U.S. will begin in the first half of 2009, it said.
Chairman Chung Mong Koo is betting on new small autos to improve profitability at Kia after operating losses in the past two years. Kia this year began selling a revamped Morning minicar and Forte small car as consumers demand more fuel-efficient vehicles to cope with a 5.2 percent increase in South Korea's gasoline prices since December.
The Soul is fitted with a 1.6-liter or 2-liter engine, both on petrol and diesel variants. It will sell for between 14 million won ($12,300) and 20.8 million won, the statement said.
Kia spent 190 billion won in the past two-and-a-half years to develop the model, it said. The automaker hired former Volkswagen's head designer Peter Schreyer as Chief Design Officer in 2006 to overhaul its lineup.
"Kia's strength in small cars would help it weather a setback in global auto demand,'' said Cho Soo Hong, a Seoul- based analyst at Hyundai Securities Co., which isn't related to Hyundai Motor Co., Kia's parent company.
With the introduction of four new or revamped models this year, Kia's local market share rose to 25.4 percent in the first eight months of this year, compared with 22 percent a year earlier, according to Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association.
Kia's domestic sales rose 16 percent from a year earlier in that period, the most among South Korea's five carmakers. Overall sales including exports gained 6.6 percent.
By Seonjin Cha
Bloomberg News
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