Debut of Grand Carnival
Kia Motors expects to sell 50,000 new SUV this year and 200,000 next year

Kia Motors introduced its minivan Grand Carnival to the domestic market, jumping into competition at home and abroad to outrival its competitors with its 11-seat new sports utility vehicle.
The brand new SUV made its debut at a ceremony at Seoul Hyatt Hotel July 14 before some 1,500 strong crowd headed by Commerce, Industry and Energy Minister Lee Hee-beom, Gyeonggi Province Governor Sohn Hak-kyu, and Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group Chairman Chung Mong-koo, among others.
The company spent some 250 billion won to develop the new minivan, a follow up to Carnival, during the 26- month period.
Kia projects to sell 50,000 Grand Carnivals this year and 200,000 next year including 160,000 overseas. The sale of the new model is set to start in the U.S. in September and in Europe in the first half of next year.
Chairman Chung at the ceremony said the new SUV model is a premium-class vehicle, which pulled up the level of minivans a notch aimed at sales in the world market. "If the Carnival is to be considered a car that saved Kia, the new model is the one to establish Kia as a top-class car maker in the world."he said.
The wheel base of the Grand Carnival is 3,020 mm much longer than 2,910 mm for the old Carnival, making it competitive with Honda's Odessy(3,000 mm) and Toyota's Cyena(3,030 mm). The new model comes equipped with all kinds of new gadgets including buttons to move doors and VDC for brakes. It is powered by 16 valves and 2,902 c.c. engine with 170 horse power. It is priced at 19.8 million won for GX model, and 22.7 million won for GLX basic model.
The auto maker announced that its overseas retail sales of passenger cars and light trucks in June recorded 79,116 units, representing a 23.2 percent year-on-year increase and an all-time monthly sales record. Meanwhile, exports for the month of June climbed to 80,513 units, marking a 14.2 percent rise over the same period last year.
This strong June performance in overseas markets can be attributed to strong sales of the recently introduced new Sportage SUV as well as continued robust sales of the C-segment Cerato(also known as the "Spectra" in some markets). Sorento SUV, and A-segment Picanto, which was the leading seller in foreign markets in the month of June with 12,232 units delivered.
Through the first half of this year, Kia has seen its overseas retail sales jump to 402,298 units, representing a year-on-year rise of 29.7 percent. By region, sales in the first six months of this year grew by 61.9 percent in Europe, 37.3 percent in the general market and 5.7 percent in North America compared to the same period of last year.
Meanwhile, exports for the first half of the year, reached 453,128 units, marking a year-on-year increase of 27.6 percent. Kia's robust first half performance was propelled by steady orders for the recently introduced new Sportage SUV, strong sales of RVs as well as full-fledged sales of small passenger cars introduced last year.
Kim Young-hwan, senior executive vice president and COO of Kia Motors said, "Kia's first half performance results in overseas markets are proof positive that we are winning over customers around the world with a line-up of vehicles that feature vastly improved design, performance, quality and safety. Thanks to an aggressive product introduction plan that calls for 13 exciting new models between now and 2010, we fully expect to continue our reign as one of the world's fastest growing major automakers."Kia Motors, the fastest growing automaker in the world was founded in 1944 and is Korea's oldest manufacturer of motor vehicles. As part of the Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group, Kia aims to become of the world's premier automotive brands. Kia's 16 manufacturing and assembly operations in 12 countries produce more than 1.1 million vehicles a year that are sold and serviced through a network of distributors and dealers covering 155 countries. Kia today has over 32,000 employees and annual revenue of $14 billion. It is a major sponsor of the Australian Tennis Open and an official worldwide sponsor of Davis Cup. nw

A Grand Carnival, Kia Motors'new minivan, is being surrounded by models at a debut ceremony.