Kia Motors Slovakia at full production

The company started production of the all-new Kia Pro Cee'd three-door model in February, followed by the higher performance Kia Pro Cee'd GT and five-door Kia cee'd GT models at the end of May. The plant is now operating at full production capacity for the first time ever.

Kia Motors Slovakia also produced more than 253,200 gasoline and diesel engines for the first six months of 2013, a 6.7% increase over the same period last year.

"We are grateful that despite the less than favourable situation of the automotive market, European customers still appreciate Kia's offer that combines top quality, attractive design and great value for money," said Eek-Hee Lee, president and CEO of Kia Motors Slovakia.

"Only thanks to their trust in Kia we have been able to achieve a 6% year-on-year production increase, with almost 160,000 cars manufactured in the first half of the year. We believe that the new models launched this year will support us remaining at full production capacity."

Most exported to Russia

Kia's Zilina facility produces the second-generation Kia cee'd, the Kia Sportage sport utility vehicle, and the practical B-segment MPV, the Kia Venga. Kia Sportage accounted for almost 48% of the overall production output in the first half of 2013.The majority of the remainder is made up of the Kia cee'd models (over 42%), while the Kia Venga represents 10% of production. Most of these cars were exported to Russia (24%), the UK (14%), Germany (9%), France (5%) and Italy (5%). Almost 1% of output is sold in Slovakia.

In the first half of 2013, Kia also manufactured 133,100 gasoline engines (53% of total engine output), the most popular variant being the 1.6-litre GDi gasoline engine, and over 120,100 diesel engines (47%). Of total engine production output, 47% was supplied to sister company Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Czech, in the Czech Republic.