Sunday , February 16 2025

Kia’s European factory reaches major milestone

Four millionth car produced at Kia's Žilina plant in Slovakia

The four millionth car has rolled off the production line at Kia’s Žilina plant in Slovakia.

A Kia Sportage was the milestone motor at the factory which acted as a springboard for the South Korean brand’s expansion across Europe when it opened 15 years ago.

The first vehicles produced at Kia Slovakia were members of the Kia Ceed family – a model line-up that continues to be designed, engineered and manufactured in Europe specifically to appeal to European customers.

The Ceed range was introduced at the same time as Kia’s industry-leading seven-year warranty, and this winning combination catapulted Kia into the European mainstream.

Kia Slovakia produced its one-millionth vehicle in 2012 and every three years since has added another million vehicles to the manufacturing tally.

Now, nine years later, four million cars have rolled off the 7.5-kilometre production line capable of simultaneously producing eight different models.

It currently oversees the manufacture of all members of the Ceed family, comprised of Ceed, Ceed GT, Ceed Sportswagon, ProCeed, XCeed and plug-in hybrid powertrain versions of both the Ceed Sportswagon and XCeed.

The plant has also been responsible for producing both previous generations of the Sportage, as well as the current generation, including the mild-hybrid ‘Ecodynamics+’ variants.

About Gareth Herincx

Gareth is a versatile journalist, copywriter and digital editor who's worked across the media in newspapers, magazines, TV, teletext, radio and online. After long stints at the BBC, GMTV and ITV, he now specialises in motoring.

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