Kia Sales in U.S. Top 10,000 for July

Sales of Kia cars and sport utility vehicles in the United States topped the 10,000 mark for the first time in July, boosting the year-to-date tally for Irvine-based Kia Motors America Inc. to 50,616 units and earning about 250 full-time employees a bonus of two weeks’ pay.

The company’s sales this year are almost double its total for the first seven months of 1996.

To celebrate the record, Kia awarded its U.S. employees a bonus equal to two weeks’ pay, sources said. The bonus was announced Tuesday by Kia Motor America President W.K. Kim in a memo circulated within the company.

Kia’s South Korean parent is in bankruptcy, saddled with huge debts brought about by heavy expansion just before the collapse of the country’s economy last year. But Kia officials in the U.S. have long insisted that the parent’s problems aren’t affecting it. Recognizing the record sales pace with liberal bonuses--the total bill is likely to top $500,000--is a way of showing employees that the U.S. company is, indeed, in good financial shape.

July’s sales performance keeps Kia well on track to meet its goal of 90,000 units for the year. Kia, which began U.S. sales with four dealerships in February 1994, now is in 41 states and expects to have more than 500 dealers in all 48 contiguous states by the end of the year.