SEOUL-- Kia Corp., South Korea's second-largest automaker, said Monday its sales rose 8.7 percent last month from a year earlier on strong overseas demand for its SUV models.

Kia sold a total of 241,399 vehicles in July, up from 222,119 units a year ago, the company said in a statement.

Domestic sales climbed 2.4 percent on-year to 48,160 units last month from 47,050, while overseas sales rose 10 percent to 193,239 from 175,069 during the cited period, it said.

Kia's Sportage compact SUV was the bestselling model, selling 31,695 units at home and abroad.

From January to July, its sales rose 22 percent to 1.69 million autos from 1.39 million in the year-ago period.

Kia said it will launch the K8 sedan and the all-electric EV6 embedded with Hyundai Motor Group's own EV platform in global markets in Europe and the United States later this year to boost sales.

On Monday, the maker of the K5 sedan and the Telluride SUV launch the EV6 in the domestic market.

Source: Yonhap News Agency