SEOUL\u00a0\u2014 Hyundai Motor reported a 21-percent fall in second-quarter (Q2) operating profit on Thursday, missing analysts\u2019 estimates, as weaker vehicle sales, production disruptions\u00a0and\u00a0higher costs offset support from a weaker won.<\/p>\n
The weaker results highlight mounting challenges facing the auto industry, as carmakers contend with rising energy and raw material costs as well as supply chain disruptions linked to\u00a0US\u00a0tariffs and conflict in the Middle East.<\/p>\n
The South Korean firm, which faced additional production disruptions in the second quarter after a fire at a supplier, forecasts economic uncertainty will persist and competition in the industry will be tougher.<\/p>\n
Hyundai, which together with affiliate Kia Corp. is the world\u2019s third-biggest automaking group by sales, posted operating profit of 2.9 trillion won ($1.98 billion) for the April-June period.<\/p>\n
That compared with a 3.2 trillion won forecast by LSEG SmartEstimate, which is weighted toward analysts who are more consistently accurate.<\/p>\n
Get the latest news
\n
\n delivered to your inbox<\/p>\n
Sign up for The Manila Times newsletters<\/p>\n
By signing up with an email address, I acknowledge that I have read and agree to the Terms of Service<\/a> and Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n The company also faces intensifying competition in South Korea, one of its most profitable and biggest markets, as global automakers expand their electric vehicle (EVs) and software offerings.<\/p>\n Tesla, the largest imported auto brand, plans to roll out a new version of its Full Self Driving software in South Korea.<\/p>\n The country\u2019s imported vehicle market has become increasingly competitive, with China\u2019s BYD overtaking Lexus and Volvo as the fourth-largest imported foreign brand.<\/p>\n Imported passenger cars accounted for nearly one-fourth of newly registered passenger vehicles in the first half of 2026, the highest in five years, according to market researcher Carisyou.<\/p>\n The company reported a 16-percent\u00a0plunge in second-quarter vehicle sales in South Korea. In its other key markets of the\u00a0US\u00a0and Europe, the automaker increased incentives as consumers grappled with higher energy prices and persistent inflation during the quarter.<\/p>\n While\u00a0US\u00a0sales were little changed from a year earlier, electric vehicles\u2019 share of Hyundai\u2019s sales in the country \u2014 its largest market by revenue \u2014 fell to 4.0 percent from 10.2 percent following the end of federal\u00a0EV\u00a0subsidies last year.<\/p>\n Hyundai Motor said revenue rose 2\u00a0percent\u00a0from a year earlier to 49.2 trillion won.<\/p>\n Pivot to\u00a0AI<\/p>\n Hyundai has stepped up investments in robotics, \u201csoftware-defined vehicles\u201d and autonomous driving, as it seeks new growth engines beyond traditional car manufacturing.<\/p>\n Last week, Hyundai Motor Group said it would take full control of robotics company Boston Dynamics, giving it greater flexibility, as it prepares to deploy Atlas humanoid robots at its Georgia manufacturing plant from 2028.<\/p>\n Investor enthusiasm for the group\u2019s push into so-called physical\u00a0artificial intelligence (AI) helped drive Hyundai shares to record highs earlier this month, although some analysts have questioned whether the rally has outpaced near-term earnings prospects.<\/p>\n Shares of Hyundai Motor rose 2 percent after the earnings announcement.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SEOUL\u00a0\u2014 Hyundai Motor reported a 21-percent fall in second-quarter (Q2) operating profit on Thursday, missing analysts\u2019 estimates, as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":96489,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[1137,2588,50194,50188,6486,906,9006,50185,14689,50196,50187,1298,50186,2314,1333,6078,50190,50195,50183,295,294,702,293,9163,50192,50191,4317,25851,2265,613,38602,50182,22457,13213,1130,50181,13564,50189,15304,49954,2558,50193,42095,38562,50176,50184],"class_list":["post-96488","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-hyundai","tag-ai","tag-artificial-intelligence","tag-atlas-humanoid-robots","tag-automaking-group","tag-autonomous-driving","tag-boston-dynamics","tag-byd","tag-carmakers","tag-competition","tag-earnings-prospects","tag-economic-uncertainty","tag-electric-vehicles","tag-energy-costs","tag-energy-prices","tag-europe","tag-evs","tag-full-self-driving-software","tag-georgia-manufacturing-plant","tag-higher-costs","tag-hyundai","tag-hyundai-group","tag-hyundai-motor","tag-hyundai-motor-group","tag-hyundai-shares","tag-imported-foreign-brand","tag-imported-vehicle-market","tag-inflation","tag-lexus","tag-middle-east-conflict","tag-operating-profit","tag-passenger-vehicles","tag-production-disruptions","tag-raw-material-costs","tag-reuters","tag-robotics","tag-second-quarter","tag-seo","tag-software-offerings","tag-software-defined-vehicles","tag-supply-chain-disruptions","tag-tesla","tag-us-sales","tag-us-tariffs","tag-vehicle-sales","tag-volvo","tag-weaker-won"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96488","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96488"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96488\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96488"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96488"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/korea\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96488"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}