Hyundai Motor Q4 Operating Profit Up 21.9%... "Genesis Is the Breadwinner" (Update)

[Asia Economy Reporter Changhwan Lee] Hyundai Motor Company announced improved performance in the fourth quarter of last year. Although overall sales volume decreased due to a shortage of automotive semiconductors, sales and profits increased thanks to higher sales of luxury vehicles such as Genesis and favorable exchange rate effects.

Hyundai Motor disclosed on the 25th that its sales revenue for the fourth quarter of last year reached 31.0265 trillion KRW and operating profit was 1.5297 trillion KRW. Compared to the previous year, sales revenue increased by 6.1% and operating profit rose by 21.9%.

Global wholesale sales volume in the fourth quarter was 960,639 units, down 15.7% from the previous year.

In the domestic market, sales of new SUVs such as Ioniq 5, Casper, and Genesis GV70 performed well, but due to the ongoing semiconductor supply shortage, sales decreased by 8.9% year-on-year to 185,996 units.

Overseas, sales declined by 17.2% year-on-year to 774,643 units, showing weakness in most markets due to production disruptions caused by semiconductor supply shortages.

The cost of sales ratio fell by 0.7 percentage points from the previous year to 80.9%. Despite the decrease in global wholesale sales, this decline was due to a mix improvement effect centered on high value-added models and favorable exchange rate effects. The average USD-KRW exchange rate in the fourth quarter of last year rose 5.9% year-on-year to 1,183 KRW.

The ratio of selling and administrative expenses to sales increased by 0.1 percentage points year-on-year to 14.2%, influenced by expanded research expenses for future investments.

As a result, operating profit in the fourth quarter of last year was 1.5297 trillion KRW, up 21.9% from the previous year. The operating profit margin was 4.9%.

Ordinary profit and net profit were 1.4743 trillion KRW and 701.4 billion KRW, respectively.

Meanwhile, the full-year performance for 2021 recorded sales of 3,890,726 units, sales revenue of 117.6106 trillion KRW, and operating profit of 6.6789 trillion KRW.

Regarding future business environment prospects, Hyundai Motor expects global automobile demand to rebound as the COVID-19 pandemic situation gradually improves and the semiconductor shortage stabilizes.

However, it anticipates that difficult external conditions such as weakening government stimulus measures, increased marketing costs due to intensified competition among companies, and expanded exchange rate volatility will continue.

A Hyundai Motor official said, “Due to strengthened environmental regulations in major countries this year, increased investment in eco-friendly infrastructure, and expanded preference for eco-friendly vehicles, the global eco-friendly vehicle market is expected to continue high growth centered on electric vehicles. We will make our best efforts in this regard.”

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.