[THE INVESTOR] Kia Motors, South Korea’s second largest automaker, on Oct. 27 said it suffered a production loss of 64,000 vehicles in the July-September quarter, mainly due to a series of labor strikes at domestic plants.

“We weren’t able to continue our earnings momentum in the third quarter,” Han Chun-soo, Kia’s chief financial officer, said at a conference call after the company’s third-quarter earnings report. “The strike led to production loss of about 64,000 units in the period.”

The company said its Korean plants accounted for 52.2 percent of the total production in the January-September period, down 10.6 percent from a year ago, while overseas facilities beefed up production, largely boosted by the new Mexico plant, to make up 47.8 percent.

In the third quarter, Kia’s operating profit fell 22.5 percent to 524.8 billion won (US$460.76 million) on-year. Revenue also slipped 3.1 percent to 12.7 trillion won.

By Ahn Sung-mi (sahn@heraldcorp.com)