South Korea’s Kia Corp. kept up record-breaking streak with car sales last month in the United States, raising hope for earnings growth for the second quarter and the full year.

Kia Motors America announced Monday its car sales totaled 70,177 units in April, breaking the previous record monthly high of 66,523 units set a month earlier. Against a year ago, its sales surged 121.3 percent.

Sales of two Kia nameplates – Forte and K5 sedans – jumped to the monthly high of 12,504 units and 9,626 units, respectively last month.

Sports utility vehicle models also continued sales growth with Sorento that sold 10,040 units, Sportage 8,094 units, Telluride 8,195 units and Seltos 6,471 units.

“After a record-breaking first-quarter performance, Kia continued to outpace the industry in April as even more customers discovered out world-class and award-winning design and quality,” said Sean Yoon, president and CEO of Kia Motors North America.

“Given the showroom traffic our dealers are reporting ahead of the summer opening of the country we are confident out strong performance will continue through the year,” Yoon added.

From January to March, Kia sold a total of 159,550 cars in the U.S., record quarterly shipments since its advance into the market.

Hyundai Motor Co. also is expected to unveil April auto sales in the U.S. similar to its record-high March performance. When combining luxury marque Genesis’ sales, Hyundai Motor sold total 78,409 units in March after gaining 117.3 percent from the previous year. April sales data will be out Tuesday.

Hyundai Motor shares closed 2.83 percent higher at 218,000 won in Seoul trading Monday, and Kia 4.04 percent up at 80,100 won.

By Lee Ha-yeon

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