Hyundai Motor Group Surpasses Volkswagen to Become Global Top 2 in Operating Profit

Second Place in Operating Profit at 20.5 Trillion Won, Following Toyota Group
Top Operating Margin... Defended Against U.S. Tariff Impact

Hyundai Motor Group ranked second in the global automotive industry in terms of operating profit for the first time last year. Germany's Volkswagen Group fell to third place, overtaken by Hyundai. This shift is attributed to Hyundai's proactive response to tariff risks posed by the U.S. administration.

According to industry sources on March 11, Hyundai Motor Group (Hyundai Motor, Kia, and Genesis) posted sales of 300.3954 trillion won and an operating profit of 20.546 trillion won last year. This is the second highest operating profit among global automakers, following only Japan's Toyota Group.

Chung Euisun, Chairman of Hyundai Motor Group. Hyundai Motor Company

Toyota Group recorded sales of 50.4508 trillion yen (471.2 trillion won) and an operating profit of 4.3128 trillion yen (40.02 trillion won) last year, making it the global automaker with the highest operating profit. Toyota's results combine the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2024 and the first to third quarters of fiscal year 2025.

During the same period, Volkswagen Group recorded sales of 321.9 billion euros (551.9 trillion won), which was higher than Hyundai Motor Group, but its operating profit was only 8.9 billion euros (15.3 trillion won). For the first time, Hyundai Motor Group surpassed Volkswagen Group in annual operating profit.

General Motors (GM) posted sales of 185 billion dollars (272.2 trillion won) and adjusted operating profit of 12.7 billion dollars (18.7 trillion won) last year. Stellantis reported a loss of 840 million euros (1.4 trillion won).

Hyundai Motor Group also maintained top-tier performance in terms of operating margin, another key profitability indicator. Hyundai Motor Group posted a combined operating margin of 6.8%, following Toyota Group's 8.6%. This figure is more than double that of other competitors, such as Volkswagen Group (2.8%).

Industry experts cite "defense against U.S. tariff risks" as the main reason for Hyundai Motor Group's solid profitability. Volkswagen Group saw its operating profit plummet by 53.5% year-on-year, attributing the decline to U.S. tariffs and weak performance in China. By contrast, Hyundai Motor Group is credited with successfully mitigating the impact of U.S. tariffs, for example by increasing local production volumes.

In addition, Hyundai Motor Group incurred lower tariff costs than Toyota Group, which previously benefited from a reduced U.S. auto tariff rate of 15%. Hyundai Motor Group's total tariff costs amounted to 7.2 trillion won (Hyundai Motor: 4.1 trillion won; Kia: 3.1 trillion won), while Toyota paid a total of 1.2 trillion yen (11.2 trillion won) in tariffs last year.

Meanwhile, Hyundai Motor Group maintained its position as the third-largest automaker by global sales last year, with 7.27 million units sold. Toyota Group led the market with 11.32 million units, followed by Volkswagen Group with 8.98 million units. GM (6.18 million units) and Stellantis (5.48 million units) ranked fourth and fifth, respectively.

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