Kia's Nov sales fall 13% on chip shortage

Seoul, Dec 1 (IANS) South Korea's second-largest automaker Kia on Wednesday said its sales fell 13 percent last month from a year earlier as a global chip shortage continued to affect its production.

Kia sold a total of 2,22,232 vehicles in November, down from 2,56,215 units a year ago, the company said in a statement.

Domestic sales declined 8.9 per cent on-year to 46,042 units last month from 50,523, while exports were down 14 per cent to 176,190 from 205,692 during the cited period, reports Yonhap news agency.

Kia said the continued chip shortage and resurgence of Covid-19 cases are to blame for the lacklustre sales last month, saying it will adjust the production schedules to minimise the part shortage's impact on its factory operations.

From January to November, sales rose 7.6 per cent to 2.57 million autos from 2.39 million units in the same period of last year.

Recently, Hyundai Motor and affiliate Kia unveiled their electric concept SUVs at the Los Angeles Auto Show as they strengthen their all-electric portfolios in line with rival carmakers' electrification push.

Hyundai and Kia debuted the large-sized "Seven" and flagship "EV9" concept models built on Hyundai Motor Group's dedicated EV platform, called E-GMP, at the US motor show during a two-day media preview.

The carmakers are planning to gradually phase out combustion-engine cars in global markets as governments are adopting more aggressive policies to fight climate change.