Kia Motors Corp. said Tuesday its vehicle sales rose 7.1 percent in September from a year earlier on increased demand for its SUV models.

The country's second-largest carmaker by sales sold 252,254 vehicles in September, up from 235,424 units a year earlier. The gains were driven by robust demand for SUV models such as the Stonic and Soul boxcar, the company said in a statement. 


Domestic sales jumped 25 percent on-year to 48,019 units in September from 38,300. And overseas sales climbed 3.6 percent to 204,235 from 197,124 over the same period, it said.

In the January-September period, Kia's sales declined 6.1 percent to 2.01 million autos from 2.14 million in the year-ago period, the statement said. 

Sharp sales declines in China have driven down the carmaker's sales, the company said, citing political tensions between Seoul and Beijing over the deployment of the Terminal High Altitude Area Defense system in South Korea.

In March, China banned the sale of group tours to South Korea as part of its retaliations against the THAAD installation. Chinese campaigns against South Korean products also weighed on Kia's sales in the world's largest automobile market.

Seoul and Washington have argued THAAD is purely aimed at countering missile threats from North Korea. But Beijing has opposed the system, arguing it could spy on its military. (Yonhap)