DETROIT, January 7, 2004 - Kia Motors America (KMA) today announced record sales numbers for the month of December, highlighting the company's tenth consecutive year of sales increases. With a 27 percent increase over the same month last year, the company sold 18,575 vehicles in December, bringing KMA's year-to-date sales to 237,471.

"We started off 2003 with the best January in our company's history and continued to grow throughout the year despite a lack of available inventory in the Fall," said Peter M. Butterfield, Kia president and chief executive officer. "This past year we successfully moved to a more upscale product mix, with more than half of our sales in the second half driven by Optima, Sedona and Sorento. While sales weren't as strong as they could have been due to low inventories, our revenues increased by approximately 10 percent thanks to the appeal of our new, larger products to a broader spectrum of American buyers."

Sedona minivan sales were up 30 percent as were the Optima sales. Sorento sales reached 40,779, representing one of the strongest new vehicle launches in KMA history.