Kia's Certified Pre-Owned Sales Reach Record High

Kia Motors America’s March sales of certified pre-owned vehicles were the best in its history, the Korean automaker announced.

The company sold 7,698 CPO vehicles through the month, representing a 2.5% year-over-year increase. One of the strongest performing vehicles for Kia was its Forte sedan, which experienced a 20.2% rise in sales.

This rise, according to the company, is partly due to the Kia’s enhancements of its CPO program, which has expanded the quality assurance inspection of the vehicles from a 150-point inspection to a 164-point inspection.

“Kia’s CPO program will benefit from the supply of off-lease vehicles that span the entire vehicle line-up. This is advantageous as consumers shopping CPO Kia inventory should be able to find anything from a compact car to a midsize SUV with relative ease,” said Ivan Drury, senior manager of industry analysis for Edmunds.

In order for a vehicle to qualify for Kia’s CPO program, it must be five years or newer with fewer than 60,000 miles.

One thing to note is that Kia’s CPO success is not coming at the expense of its new-vehicle sales. Kia’s March sales numbers showed that the company saw a similar 2.5% year-over-year increase in its new-vehicle segment due in large part to the success of the company’s SUV/CUV sales.