Hyundai Motor saw Q1 sales and operating profit rise despite uncertainties such as vehicular chip shortages and parts supply-demand imbalances, launched by China.
At a conference call at Hyundai Motor headquarters in Seoul on May 25, Hyundai Motor announced the results of the business performance for the first quarter of the year.
Hyundai Motor sold 902,945 cars in Korea and abroad in Q1, a 9.7 percent drop over the same period of last year. In Korea, Hyundai Motor sold 152,098 cars, an 18 year-on-year percent. The automaker sold 750,847 cars abroad, a 7.8 year-on-year decline.
But Hyundai Motor saw Q1 sales surge 10.6 percent year-on-year to 30,298.6 billion won. The automaker saw sales rise as the improving sales mix focusing on Genesis and SUV cars and the effects of foreign currencies have offset declining car sales.
The average foreign currency exchange rate stood at 1,205 won in Q1, an 8.2 year-on-year percent. The cost of sales for Q1 declined 0.7 percentage points to 80.9 percent.
Despite declining car sales, rising sales were owed to the effects of the favorable foreign currency exchange rate and the improving of car mix focusing on value-added vehicles.
Selling and management costs versus sales rose 0.4 percentage points to 12.7 percent on the back of rising marketing and investment costs.
Hyundai Motor saw Q1 operating profit surge 16.4 percent year-on-year to 1,928.9 billion won. Operating profit margin stood at 6.4 percent. The automaker posted 2,278.6 billion won in ordinary profit and 1,777.4 billion won in net profit.
A Hyundai Motor official said, “Q1 car sales declined year-on-year, influenced by the stoppage of car products, caused by the disruption of global vehicular chip and other parts supply.”
Despite declining car sales, Q1 operating profit rose year-on-year on the back of the improving of car sales mix focusing on Genesis cars and SUVs and the improving of regional mix focusing on advanced countries on top of the effects of the favorable foreign currency, the official added.
Hyundai Motor’s NEXO, a hydrogen fuel cell SUV, topped a list of global hydrogen fuel cell car sales in the first quarter of this year. An image of Hyundai Motor’s NEXO.
Hyundai Motor is predicted to see the global pandemic subside and the shortage of vehicular chips turn to normal. But the automaker predicted that it will face a difficult business environment due to the expanding of uncertainties such as raw material price hikes, caused by the blockade of some Chinese cities and conflicts among nations.
Rising marketing costs, caused by widening foreign currency fluctuations and the deepening of competition among automakers, are feared to weigh down on business activities.
Hyundai Motor plans to max out sales through optimizing of production and sales, expand a market share through the improving of car mix focusing on value-added cars and protect profitability.
The automaker plans to focus on ramping up EV line-up through the global release of new cars such as electrification models of GV60 and GV70 and IONIQ6.
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