Kia Motors, South Korea’s second-largest automaker under Hyundai Motor Group, said Friday that its cumulative sales in Russia have surpassed 1 million units since it started direct operations in the country in 2009.

Kia held a ceremony in Moscow Thursday to mark the achievement. Kia Motors Russia president Kim Seong-hwan attended the event with local officials as well as the country’s 1 millionth Kia customer, Ivan Lobanov.

“Kia set a true milestone in the company’s fourth-largest market by sales volume,” said Kim. “Despite difficult market conditions, we will continue investing in Russia to rise up as a brand that delivers beyond customer expectations.”

Since selling 70,084 vehicles in 2009 when Kia Motors Russia first launched, the automaker has steadily expanded its annual sales portfolio to sell 104,235 units in 2010 and more than 190,000 units each year in 2013 and 2014, according to Kia.

The Korean automaker’s best-selling model in Russia is the Kia Pride, a subcompact vehicle marketed as the Kia Rio locally, at 418,177 units, followed by the Cee’d at 175,755 units and the Sportage at 167,306 units.

Kia’s market share in Russia doubled to 9.8 percent as of July 2015 from 4.8 percent in 2009, the company said.

By Sohn Ji-young (jys@heraldcorp.com)