Last year, Kia manufactured more than 729,000 vehicles outside Korea, with production in Europe, China and the USA accounting for 34.2% of the global total of 2.1 million units. This year sales have climbed 18.7% in Europe, 24.4% in China and 36.9% in the USA.

‘The creation of the third shift at Zilina is the latest step in Kia’s long-term process of building cars locally to best meet local consumers’ needs and tastes,’ commented Paul Philpott, chief operating officer, Kia Motors Europe. ‘Strong demand for all our models and especially our new Sportage compact SUV, made here in Europe, means we need to significantly increase production at our Slovakia facility.’

Earlier this month, Kia implemented a third shift at its West Point plant in Georgia in the USA, which builds the Sorento and Optima.

The added shift at the Slovak plant will lead to an extra 1,000 jobs across all stages of the manufacturing process. Kia also expects that several thousand new jobs will be created at component suppliers located across the Slovak Republic.