•Kia reaches 1 million cars sold since 1991

•Sportage GT-Line delivered to customer in Scotland

Kia Motors (UK) Limited has hit the 1 million car landmark in the UK in January 2019 – less than 30 years after the first Kia Pride was brought to British motorists.

In 1991 the Korean brand was launched and 1,786 cars were sold in the UK – last year, 2018, the company hit another record sales volume of 95,764 bringing its overall total since that first Pride to 998,069.

In the marque's first decade in the UK just under 50,000 cars were sold. After 20 years Kia had delivered 372,000 cars to UK customers. The sales-pace accelerated after the opening of the company's plant in Slovakia in 2006 and during the last eight years around 626,000 cars have come to the UK.

Now a customer in Scotland, Dr Fergus Duncan has become the proud owner of a blue Sportage GT-Line model delivered by Kia dealer Flear and Thompson of Dunfermline marking the 1 million car mark.

'The Kia brand started in the UK with sensible, budget-focused vehicles but during the last decade in particular our customer-base has grown on the back of outstanding design, unmatchable quality and the reassurance of our industry-leading seven year warranty.

'I don't know just when we will reach the 2 million mark, but we are all looking forward to the journey to that point and it will be an exciting ride that I am sure will see the nature of the motoring world change quite considerably,' he added.

Philpott announced the landmark was about to be reached during Kia's National Dealer Conference in Liverpool – the brand's biggest-ever event with more than 850 delegates from the 192-strong dealer network attending.

Kia's biggest selling car in that total is Sportage with 241,912 sold since 1995. Picanto ranks second with 191,926 sold since 2004 and cee'd has sold 138,253 since its launch in 2007.

Photo credit: Kia
posted on conceptcarz.com