Kia UK sold 5,604 vehicles in May 2013, marking a record for May sales and an 8.27% increase on the same month in 2012, as well as passing half a million UK registrations.

Total year-to-May sales for the South Korean brand are at 30,441 vehicles, also a record and up 10.6% compared to the first five months of last year. Market share of 3.21% means that Kia is the 12th best selling brand, according to the latest SMMT results.

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Kia sold its 500,000th car in the UK, a cee’d ‘4’ 1.6 CRDi hatchback, at it’s Sandicliffe Leicester dealership on 28 May, having recently announced aims to be a 100,000 sales-a-year brand at the start of the year and appointed a new sales director for its franchised retail.

Paul Philpott, President and chief executive of Kia UK, said: "Reaching 500,000 cars in the UK is another important milestone for the Kia brand. Our growth over the last few years has been down to a combination of great new products, changing perceptions of the brand and is testament to the efforts of our growing UK dealer network.

"We predict that we will achieve one million registrations in the UK before the end of the decade and our long-term ambition is to become a ‘Top Five’ volume car brand in the UK. Considering that our year-to-date sales equal our entire annual performance from just five years ago I am confident we will get there".

Kia has begun a push in retail over the past 12 months, launching a white label finance agreement with Santander last year, in partnership with sister-brand Hyundai , and announcing a raft of finance deals at the start of the year.

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