MOTOR

Kia Motors achieves significant growth

Global sales increased by 20 percent :

Kia Motors Corporation has announced that its global sales figures for passenger cars (export sales, domestic sales and sales from overseas plants), recreational vehicles (RVs) and commercial vehicles for March 2011, recorded a total of 216,219 units sold.

This figure represents a year-on-year increase of 21.9 percent.

In March, Kia posted strong double digit year-on-year sales increases in all regions of the world - 41.8 percent in North America (49,573 units sold), 21.3 percent in Korea (46,100 units sold), 17.9 percent in China (33,951 units sold), 17.4 percent in general markets (41,237 units sold), and 12.1 percent in Europe (45,358 units sold).

Cumulatively, through the first three months of 2011, Kia's global sales have increased by 20.0 percent year-on-year to reach 565,355 units. North America and general markets have experienced the highest gains to date in 2011 of 35.3 percent (117,087 units sold) and 21.1 percent (119,187 units sold), respectively.

The remaining regions have all showed strong cumulative double digit year-on-year sales increases: 19.4 percent in Korea (125,631 units sold), 12.6 percent in China (101,529 units sold) and 12.4 percent in Europe (101,921 units sold).

Kia's best selling model in overseas markets for the month of March was the C-segment Cerato (known as Forte in some markets) with 35,907 units sold.

The Sportage compact CUV and B-segment Rio follow with 26,922 and 21,273 units sold, respectively.

The Sorento mid-size CUV comes in fourth with 18,195 units sold and the Soul urban crossover vehicle rounds out the top five with 17,140 units sold. Senior Executive Vice President and Kia Motors CEO Thomas Oh, said, "March was another milestone month for Kia Motors as we celebrated our 10 millionth cumulative export.

Meanwhile, the final sales figures for March are very encouraging not only due to fact that all of our major sales regions experienced robust double digit growth, but also because we are seeing a very healthy balance in the distribution of sales among each of these regions.

Tata to invest up to $27 billion

India's giant Tata Group has said it will invest almost $30 billion mainly in the domestic market over the next five years as it seeks to double revenues to $150 billion.

The group, which has nearly 100 companies under its wing, said it plans to invest the money in sectors such as power, steel, automobiles, telecoms and chemicals.

"We have become a significant player globally in each of the sectors that we are present in," Tata Industries managing director Kishor A. Chaukar said in a weekend interview with the Press Trust of India.

He told the news agency that the group would invest as much as $27 billion in the next five years, most of it in its home Indian market.

When asked about the expected revenues of the group after the investment, Chaukar said: "It will be more than double in less than five years.

I think it'll be around $140 billion to $150 billion." Tata Industries is one of the investment arms of the Tata group.

The commitment comes as India's largest conglomerate seeks a successor to its chairman, Ratan Tata, 73, who plans to step down in December 2012.

Ratan, one of India's most respected corporate chiefs, has overseen a 40-fold increase in the group's revenues from 1991 when he took the reins of the family company. The deadline for finding a replacement for Ratan has been extended to the end of May from an initial deadline of March after the search committee said it was having trouble finding a successor.

The planned investments include projects already in the pipeline such as a $3.7-billion power plant in western Gujarat state and a $4.4-billion steel plant in the central state of Chhattisgarh. AFP

BMW expects growth in China

German luxury car maker BMW expects double-digit sales growth in China this year as the company expands its distribution network in the world's top car market, an official said Tuesday.

BMW board member for sales and marketing Ian Robertson made the remarks at the Shanghai auto show, which opened to the media Tuesday, bringing together carmakers from around the world.

"The first quarter has been strong again," Robertson told reporters. "I think we still (will) have strong double-digit growth" in sales this year.

BMW sales to China, Hong Kong and Taiwan soared 85.3 percent in 2010 to 183,328 units, the company said last month.

In the past three years, China sales have been driven by large coastal cities, but in the future sales growth will increasingly come from the country's interior, Robertson said.

To meet future demand, BMW will expand its dealership network and build a design centre in Shanghai this year, he said. AFP