SEOUL, Kia Motors Corp, South Korea's second-largest automaker in terms of sales, said on Monday it posted a record net profit of 552.2 billion won ($423 million) in 2001, up 67 percent year on year. Kia said its 2001 sales totalled 12.4 trillion won, up 14.3 percent year on year. Separate fourth-quarter results were not available, the automaker said. A spokeswoman for Kia, an affiliate of top-ranked Hyundai Motor Co, said the company would announce further details later on Monday. Kia, which has not released a new model in more than a year, saw January sales rise 7.2 percent year on year to 70,476 vehicles, while exports rose 1.8 percent over the same period.

The automaker plans to unveil its second sport utility vehicle, the Sorento compact SUV, later this month in South Korea and then in the key U.S. market mid-year. Kia aims to sell around 50,000 of the SUVs annually. Kia shares were up 7.4 percent at 10,850 won at 0203 GMT, while the broader stock market index was up 0.96 percent. Kia has targeted this year's sales at 13.4 trillion won. Earlier this month, Hyundai announced a record 2001 net profit of 1.17 trillion won, up 75 percent year on year, on brisk sales of higher-priced automobiles in the local and U.S. markets.