|
(Seoul, Korea) Hyundai Motor Co. has announced an 11 percent increase in
net income to 463 billion won ($A544 million), from 417.6 billion won a year
earlier while profits rose 81 percent over the fourth quarter last
year.
Exports rose by 5.2 percent to 235,101 units while domestic sales fell 30
percent in the quarter to 128,697 vehicles.
Higher commodity prices and weak domestic demand crimped operating profits
which fell 27 percent to 461 billion won ($A541.6 million). Turnover, including
exports, rose two percent to 6.2 trillion won ($A 7.3 billion).
”The delayed recovery in the domestic economy, personal credit problems and
high oil prices continued to undermine consumer spending in the first quarter,”
said Hyundai Motor Co. President Park Hwang-Ho. “But we're seeing a steady
recovery in demand, helped by the temporary reduction in luxury tax and the
introduction of our new Tucson SUV, '' he said.
Hyundai’s overseas production is climbing at an even faster rate as the
company is selling more vehicles in China, India and Turkey, where it has
production plants. Sales from the three plants combined more than doubled to
89,689 vehicles in the first three months of the year.
Established in 1967, Hyundai Motor Co. has grown into the Hyundai Automotive
Group which includes Kia Motors Corp. and over two dozen auto-related
subsidiaries and affiliates. Hyundai is now the world’s seventh largest
automotive manufacturer, in 2003 selling 1.964 million passenger and commercial
vehicles across 190 countries and employing nearly 50,000 people worldwide.
Further information about Hyundai Motor Co. and its products is available on the
Internet at http://www.hyundai-motor.com
|
