According to Hyundai, despite the year on year sales improvement in Korea and the Korean won’s appreciation against US dollar (15% gain) and the Euro (10.1% gain), the company saw 2009 sales revenues slip by 1.0% to KRW31.859 trillion on reduced export shipments from its Korean plants.
The net profit increased by 104.5% to KRW29.615 trillion from a year earlier, helped by brisk sales in China and India. Both regions, on a unit sales basis, posted year on year gains of 93.6% and 14.4%, respectively. In addition, aided by favorable exchange rates and it’s cost-cutting efforts, operating profit also rose by 19.1% to KRW22.350 trillion, despite higher marketing, dealer and brand development expenses.
The domestic sales recovered by 23% due to the launch of new models, Equus, Tucson ix and Sonata, and tax benefits extended between May and December to new car buyers trading in vehicles ten years or older. The export sales from the three Korean plants fell 17.1% to 910,522 units due to reduced demand in Russia, while production of i30 compact hatchback picked up pace at newly opened manufacturing plant in Czech Republic.
Hyundai witnessed a rise in market share in the US and EU, despite headwinds in those regions last year. In China, the company sold 570,300 units, registering a growth of 94%.
