KIA Motors Corp, South Korea's second-biggest car maker, boosted quarterly profit 40 percent, beating analysts' expectations, on higher sales of Morning minicars and a weaker won.

Net income rose to 86 billion won (US$85 million) in the second quarter from 61.4 billion won a year earlier, the Seoul-based car maker said in a filing yesterday. That was higher than the 77.3-billion-won median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of seven analysts. Sales gained 1.4 percent to 4.19 trillion won.

Record gasoline prices helped Kia more than triple domestic sales of Morning minicars in the period and boost total vehicle sales in the slumping United States market by 11 percent. The won has also plunged 9 percent against the dollar in the past year, raising the repatriated value of Kia's overseas sales.

'The weaker won saved Kia from the tough environment around the auto industry,' said Cho Soo-hong, a Seoul-based analyst at Hyundai Securities Co.

'New models will certainly raise Kia's domestic sales and profit in the second half, helping it offset industry-wide declines in Europe and the US.'

The rise in net income contrasts with Hyundai Motor Co, South Korea's biggest car maker, which on Thursday reported an 11-percent decline in profit.