By Kwanwoo Jun


Hyundai Motor's first-quarter earnings fell on sluggish global car demand even as South Korea's biggest automaker warned of intense competition and rising marketing costs.

Net profit for the quarter ended in March was 3.376 trillion Korean won ($2.45 billion), down 1.3% compared with the same period a year earlier, the South Korean carmaker said Thursday. Still, that beat a FactSet-compiled consensus forecast for net profit of KRW2.888 trillion.

First-quarter revenue rose 7.6% on year to KRW40.659 trillion, while its operating profit dropped 2.3% to KRW3.557 trillion.

The company said its global wholesale car sales in the first quarter fell 1.5% from a year earlier, with wholesale vehicle sales in South Korea plunging 16% on year partly because of suspended operations at one of its plants to revamp its facilities for electric-vehicle production.

Despite overall sluggishness, vehicle sales in North America and India remained strong during the quarter, it said.

Hyundai Motor said it expects intense competition among carmakers and higher marketing costs in the future. Even though the business environment was tough, it said it would continue its electrification drive and plans to sell more hybrid EVs and introduce a new Ioniq EV model.

Earlier in the day, Hyundai Motor announced at the Beijing auto show that it plans to launch its new Ioniq 5N EV model in China in the second half of the year and also unveiled its upgraded Santa Fe and Tucson sport utility vehicles.


Write to Kwanwoo Jun at kwanwoo.jun@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

04-25-24 0215ET