April 20, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Kia Motors has launched an upgraded Forte subcompact in China, the company said on Nov. 8.

The 1.6-liter Forte subcompact comes with a six-speed automatic transmission or a six-speed manual transmission. It also has a voice recognition system, as well as a navigation system that was developed by Chinese tech giant Baidu, Kia said in a statement.

In the January-September period, Kia’s sales in China halved to 212,677 vehicles from 423,688 units a year earlier.

Sales of Korean autos in China are expected to improve as Seoul and Beijing have recently agreed to put bilateral ties back on track, setting aside their bitter row over the deployment of THAAD.

By Alex Lee and newswires (alexlee@heraldcorp.com)