SEOUL — South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co. said Thursday that its second-quarter net profit declined despite a gain in sales, and vowed to fight high oil prices by aggressively exporting more fuel efficient vehicles.
Hyundai earned 546.93-billion won ($542.1-million U.S.) in the three months ended June 30, the company said in a regulatory filing. That was 10.6 per cent lower than the same period last year.
Sales during the quarter rose 12.8 per cent to 9.12-trillion won ($9.03-billion) from 8.08-trillion won, it said.
Spokeswoman Song Mee-young said the profit decline for the quarter resulted from losses at Hyundai units in Japan and India and currency losses related to U.S. dollar- and euro-denominated derivatives.
In a news release, Hyundai said that net profit for the first half of 2008 rose 2.2 per cent to 939.6-billion won compared with the same period last year, while sales increased 17 per cent to 17.3-trillion won.
Hyundai said it sold nearly 1.5 million vehicles during the first half, a 15 per cent gain from a year earlier on the back of strong performance by top-end sedans such as the Genesis and the redesigned Sonata.
Hyundai's U.S. sales, however, fell 2.3 per cent to 231,066 vehicles in the first half, said spokesman Ki Jin-ho. Second-quarter sales in the U.S. rose 2.5 per cent to 135,728.
Hyundai is South Korea's biggest auto maker. Combined with affiliate Kia Motors Corp., it forms the world's fifth-largest automotive group, said Mr. Ki, citing Automotive News.
Hyundai said higher prices for oil and raw materials were likely to continue in the second half. The car maker said it would cut costs and export aggressively to overcome them.
“Higher oil prices and strong demand from emerging markets are boosting sales of small- and medium-sized sedans worldwide,” Hyundai said.
Both Hyundai and Kia have been expanding aggressively overseas in recent years.
Hyundai has plants in China, India, Turkey and the United States. It is building a factory in the Czech Republic and has plans for others in Russia and Brazil. Kia plans to open its first plant in the United States next year.
Hyundai said that it will open its Czech plant by the end of this year. The factory had originally been set to open in April 2009.
