Kia has achieved its highest-ever sales performance for the first half of the year, selling over 1.6 million vehicles in domestic and international markets.

On July 1, Kia announced that it sold a total of 1,630,988 vehicles from January to June this year, with 296,479 sold domestically and 1,334,509 sold overseas.

This figure marks the company's largest first-half performance since it began vehicle sales in 1962.

Compared to the same period last year, domestic sales increased by 7 percent, and overseas sales grew by 1.8 percent.

As a result, total sales rose by 2.7 percent compared to the first half of last year, which was the previous record high.

The Sportage was the best-selling vehicle in the global market during the first half of the year, with 303,203 units sold.

It was followed by the Seltos (177,148 units) and the Sorento (125,283 units).

Sales for June totaled 295,720 vehicles, consisting of 54,981 units sold domestically and 240,739 units sold overseas.

Compared to the same month last year, domestic sales increased by 18.7 percent, and overseas sales rose by 7.6 percent.

Total sales for the month grew by 9.5 percent.

Looking at last month's sales by model, the Sportage was the top seller globally with 54,058 units.

This was followed by the Seltos with 35,007 units and the K4 with 22,373 units.

In the domestic market, the Sorento was the best-selling model with 8,561 units sold.

For passenger models, the Ray (4,159 units), K5 (3,150 units), and K8 (1,981 units) followed in order.

Total sales for passenger models reached 12,367 units.

A total of 37,131 recreational vehicles (RVs) were sold, including the Sorento, Seltos (6,685 units), Carnival (6,267 units), and Sportage (6,176 units).

Commercial vehicle sales totaled 5,010 units, including the Bongo III (2,531 units) and PV5 (2,349 units).

The top-selling model in overseas markets was the Sportage (47,882 units).

It was followed by the Seltos (28,322 units) and the K4 (22,373 units).

Kia recorded its highest-ever first-half electric vehicle (EV) sales in the domestic market, selling 72,078 units.

This figure exceeds Kia's total annual EV sales from last year (60,820 units) and represents a 151.1 percent increase compared to the same period last year.

By model, the EV3 was the best-selling EV with 18,431 units, followed by the EV5 with 15,965 units and the PV5 with 15,000 units.

(Photo courtesy of Hyundai Motor Group, Yonhap News)