Hyundai Motor (excludes Kia) has said its Q3 net Co profit fell 16% to 939.2 billion won due to sharp declines to China sales amid a diplomatic row that has hit sales of most Korean products and services there.
Hyundai also said that 'intensifying competitions in major markets like the US, led to higher incentives and other operating expenses, weighing on the company's overall profitability'.
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Q3 sales volume dropped slightly to 1.07m units from 1.08m a year before. Despite the difficult business environment, Hyundai said it managed to expand sales in Korea and other emerging markets helped by successful launches of new models including Grandeur sedan, Kona compact SUV and Genesis G70.
The number of vehicles sold in China during the third quarter fell by 27% to 188,000 units.
The company was also hit by weak sales in the US – down 27% to 75,000 units.
The company is hoping that new models – such as the launch of the Genesis G70 in the US – will help to revive fortunes later in the year. New models are also planned for the Chinese market over the next four years (seven new China launches by 2022, according to reports).
Operating profit rose 12.7% to 1.2 trillion won in the third quarter from 1.07 trillion won a year earlier (but the comparison is against industrial unrest in the period last year). Sales were up 9.6% to 24.20 trillion won.
Through the first nine months of 2017, sales revenue increased 4% from a year earlier to KRW 71.88 trillion from KRW 69.11 trillion. Sales volume in the nine-month period totalled 3.27m units, declining 6% on last year's pace. Operating profit totalled KRW 3.8 trillion, 8.9% lower than KRW 4.17 trillion posted in the first nine months of 2016 while net profit slid 29.9% to KRW 3.26 trillion compared to KRW 4.65 trillion.
