In Europe, Kia sales were up 19.3% on last March to 54,106 units, however, consumers appeared more reluctant to buy in the automakers home country of Japan as sales fell by 8.8% to 42,050 unit sales.

Sales in North America rose by 29.4% to 64,133 units – the first time in the company's history that the 50,000 sales mark has been exceeded in any sales month and is also the 19th consecutive monthly sales figure record.

Figures in Central and Southern America, Caribbean, parts of Asia excluding China and Korea, the Middle East and Africa totalled 44,522 unit sales – an 8% increase on March last year.

The top-selling model for Kia overseas was the Rio (Inset) with 42,771 units sold, followed then by the Sportage (32,325), Cerato (29,429), Optima (24,333) and Sorento (18,437) models.