Kia Motors Corp. said on Tuesday that its overseas retail sales of passenger cars and light trucks in September represented a 6.5 percent year-on-year decrease. In the United States, Kia sales rose 2 percent to 23,877 vehicles.

Sales of Kia's Sorento, the carmaker's medium-sized SUV, rose 33 percent to 5,582 vehicles from 4,186 vehicles. However, Kia's Rio sedan sales fell 37 percent to 1,770 vehicles from 2,814 vehicles.

Kia continues to build momentum with another month of record sales, said Len Hunt, executive vice president and COO of KMA. With the new auto show season on the way, keep an eye out for more exciting products from Kia.

The South Korean based motor company has more than 630 dealers throughout the United States to date. So far in 2006, Kia's best selling model in export markets has been the C-segment Cerato (also known as 'Spectra' in some markets) with 102,872 units sold. The Sorento recorded the second most sales units.