Hyundai Motor posts record earnings

Hyundai Motor said yesterday that its 2011 earnings reached a record high on brisk sales in domestic and overseas markets.

Net profit reached 8.1 trillion won ($7.1 billion) last year, up 35.1 percent from 6 trillion won a year earlier, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Operating profit rose 36.4 percent on-year from 2010 to 8.07 trillion won, with sales rising 16.1 percent to 77.8 trillion won, the company said.

Hyundai Motor said the strong bottom-line is attributable to robust sales of its new models and improved management efficiency.

“Hyundai Motor has continued to show steady growth thanks to brisk sales of new vehicles, which have good fuel economy and popular designs based on solid quality management,” said the carmaker in a statement.

Its global sales rose 12.4 percent from a year earlier to 4,059,438 units in 2011, surpassing the four-million level for the first time. The carmaker exported 1,202,405 vehicles to overseas markets last year and produced 2,174,805 vehicles at its overseas plants, the company said.

For the fourth quarter of last year, Hyundai Motor posted a 38 percent on-year hike in its net profit to reach 2 trillion won. Its sales rose 10.7 percent on-year to 20.5 trillion won during the September to December period, with 1,109,533 vehicles sold. Its operating profit soared 71.9 percent on-year to 2.1 trillion won.

Hyundai Motor said it will continue to focus on quality management and developing environmentally friendly technologies this year.

Yonhap