Hyundai Motor’s operating profit exceeds 1 trillion won in Q2

Hyundai Motor Co. has managed to earn over 1 trillion won in quarterly operating profit in seven quarters on the back of robust sales of sport-utility vehicles (SUV) and new models as well as a weak local currency.

South Korea’s No. 1 carmaker announced Monday that its sales climbed by 90.1 percent to 26.97 trillion won and operating profit rose by 30.2 percent to 1.24 trillion won year-on-year in the second quarter. This marks the first time that the company has logged over 1 trillion won in its quarterly operating profit since the third quarter of 2017 when the figure reached 1.2 trillion won.

Hyundai Motor shipped out 1,104,916 vehicles, down 7.3 percent from 1,192,141 units a year earlier. Domestically, however, a strong response for SUVs such as the Palisade and the Kona as well as the all-new Sonata sedan helped domestic sales to grow by 8.1 percent to 200,156 units. Still, overseas sales suffered an year-on-year decline of 10.1 percent due to sluggish sales in China and the United States.

The South Korean carmaker noted that the firm’s profitability has improved despite unfavorable market conditions including the ongoing U.S.-China trade spat, pointing out that the sales of lucrative models such as the Palisade have picked up. Hyundai Motor Executive Vice President Choi Byung-chul said in a conference call that brisk sales of the new Sonata sedan and SUVs as well as the won’s weakness against the U.S. dollar buoyed the company’s sales and operating profit in the second quarter.

Hyundai Motor plans to increase the sales of SUVs in overseas markets in the second half of the year and also launch new models such as the Venue and the GV80, the first SUV model under the company’s Genesis brand.


Seok-Jun Bae eulius@donga.com