South Korean Kia posts record 2012 production in Slovakia

(BRATISLAVA) - South Korean car maker Kia Motors said on Thursday that it had raised output by 15 percent at its Slovak plant last year, assembling 292,000 cars despite a gloomy outlook for the European Union -- its key export market.

"The company reached record-high output of 292,000 cars and 464,000 engines last year," Kia said in a press release. In 2011, Kia turned out 252,000 cars.

Kia, which employs 3,900 people in the central European country of 5.4 million people which joined the eurozone in 2009, said it planned to assemble 290,000 cars this year at its plant near Zilina, northern Slovakia.

The Slovak plant that makes the Kia ceed, Kia Sportage and Kia Venga models exports 99 percent of its production, mostly to Russia, Great Britain and Germany.

Auto production is the driving economic force in Slovakia, which is also home to plants run by the German Volkswagen and PSA Peugeot Citroen of France.