Kia hit 500,000 sales in Australia in 2018 after three decades, but seven years later, it has now reached the 1,000,000 milestone.
Kia has hit one million sales in Australia, using the delivery of a new Tasman ute to mark the occasion.
The South Korean brand, which arrived in Australia in 1988 under third-party distributors before its current direct subsidiary was founded nearly 20 years ago, coordinated its one-millionth sale with a Kia Tasman dual-cab ute delivered at a dealership in Brisbane, Queensland.
Kia took three decades to reach the 500,000 milestone in Australia, achieved in 2018, but only seven years to sell another 500,000 vehicles as it continues to climb the nation's new-car sales chart, outselling Mazda last month.
The one-millionth Kia in Australia was a four-wheel-drive Tasman X-Pro dual-cab finished in Denim Blue, which retails for $75,690 before on-road costs, delivered to small business owners at Motorama Kia in Moorooka, Queensland.
Third-party distributor Itochu began importing the Asia Motors Rocsta off-roader in Australia in 1988, while the Kia Ceres utility truck became available in 1991.
In 1997, Kia officially launched in Australia with the Mentor sedan and Sportage SUV, before distributorship was handed to Ateco – which now imports Ram, Renault, Maserati and LDV in Australia – in 2000.
Kia Motors Australia, now Kia Australia, took over from Ateco in 2006 as a direct subsidiary of its South Korean factory, with the early 2010s seeing the brand introduce a permanent seven-year warranty and start tuning its vehicles on local roads led by Graeme Gambold.
In 2017, the rear-wheel-drive, twin-turbo V6 Stinger sedan launched in Australia at the same time as the end of local Holden Commodore production, while its new brand logo and the Niro, its first electric vehicle in Australia, arrived in 2021.
More recently, Kia has expanded its range of electric and hybrid models, including the EV3, EV5, EV6 and EV9, while its first Drive Car of the Year overall winner awards were handed to the Sorento in 2021, Sportage in 2022 and EV9 in 2024.
Its first ute, the Kia Tasman, arrived in Australia last month, with an aim of 20,000 annual sales, representing a 9 per cent share of the local ute market.
Kia forecasts it will sell at least 90,000 vehicles in Australia in 2025 – beating its record 81,787 achieved last year – for an estimated 267 per cent increase from the 33,736 cars it delivered a decade ago.
The one-millionth Kia customer, Andrea and James Allendorf, said their new Tasman X-Pro is the "fifth Kia" in their family.
“Our first Kia purchase was a Kia Carnival, and this (Tasman) is now our fifth Kia in the family. True story, we didn’t even test drive the Tasman," Mr Allendorf said.
"We drove past Motorama and then went and sat in one, and knew we wanted it. Yeah, we have plenty of confidence in it (in the Kia brand)."
After the launch of the Tasman ute, Kia's next models confirmed for Australia include the K4 hatchback, EV4 electric sedan, facelifted EV6 and Stonic, EV9 GT, and more-affordable Sorento hybrid variants.
Jordan is a motoring journalist based in Melbourne with a lifelong passion for cars. He has been surrounded by classic Fords and Holdens, brand-new cars, and everything in between from birth, with his parents’ owning an automotive workshop in regional Victoria. Jordan started writing about cars in 2021, and joined the Drive team in 2024.
