[THE INVESTOR] Kia Motors on July 27 said it plans to reduce incentive spending and launch more cars in the US to overcome a sales slump in its largest market. 

“Kia’s sales declined in the US amid difficult market situation in the country,” Kia Motors CFO Han Chun-soo said during a conference call after the automaker’s second-quarter earnings report. “Despite our efforts to reduce inventories and step up marketing, our profit weakened.”

For the first six months of this year, Kia sold 296,000 units in the US -- its largest market -- down 9.9 percent from a year earlier, much larger than industry-wide decline of 2.1 percent in the same period.

The carmaker projects the latter half of the year to be even more difficult due to intensified competition among carmakers and Kia’s high inventory levels. 

The Stinger sedan will be launched in the fourth quarter in the US, while the upgraded K5 sedan, Sorento crossover SUV and Carnival will be launched next year. 

At its new Mexico plant, Kia is seeking to start manufacturing the Niro SUV. Most of the Mexico production will supply the local market and other Latin American countries, the carmaker said, adding it won’t affect US profits.  Some of US supply produced at the Mexico plant will be sent to other emerging markets and Europe, according to Kia.

In the April-June period, Kia sold 660,264 units in Korea and overseas, down 12.2 percent from a year earlier. 

Operating profit fell 47.6 percent on-year to 404 billion won (US$362.88 million), while revenue dropped 6 percent to 13.58 trillion won, while net profit slumped 52.8 percent to 389.6 billion won. 

As for the first half of this year, Kia sold 1.32 million units, down 9.5 percent on-year.

By Ahn Sung-mi (sahn@heraldcorp.com)