USA SALES MAY - KIA - The Budget brand has seens sales really fall off the cliff.

• Forte Nameplate Sets New Monthly Sales Record for Second Straight Month

Kia Motors America (KMA) today announced May sales of 58,507 vehicles, led by the popular Forte family of compact cars with an all-time monthly high of 11,801 units, up 19-percent over May 2016.

The Rio dropped sales by about half in May, with the Forte growing by nearly 2,000 units, Optima, cadenza and K900 all remained on a par with a year earlier, the NIRO, the new hybrid car helped the bottom line with 2,660 units making the brands downturn not as bad as it could have been.

The Sportage and Sorento both saw sales drop off, which considering that the SUV/Crossover segment is running at a high throught all brands, the Sedona was another model that dropped 1,609 units to a 3,261 total in the month, and lastly the Kia Soul, the funky small crossover dropped by about a quarter, even the year to date figures for the range are significantly lower than at the same point a year earlier.

	MONTH OF MAY		YEAR-TO-DATE
Model	2017	2016	2017	2016
Rio	1,187	2,241	5,722	10,130
Forte	11,801	9,910	47,359	43,572
Optima	10,789	10,895	48,465	51,887
Cadenza	528	468	2,153	2,553
K900	46	54	193	377
Niro	2,660	N/A	10,488	N/A
Sportage	7,001	8,568	28,087	33,680
Sorento	10,413	11,914	40,505	46,960
Sedona	3,561	5,170	12,998	18,297
Soul	10,521	13,706	43,623	58,299
Total	58,507	62,926	239,593	265,755

* The Sorento and Optima GDI (EX, SX & Limited and certain LX Trims only) are assembled in the United States from U.S. and globally sourced parts.