[Yonhap News Photo]
South Korea's top automaker Hyundai Motor vowed Tuesday to launch new models in Russia and other strategic points abroad as a business slump in emerging markets undercut sales and profits in the first quarter of this year.
Hyundai said its first-quarter net profit fell 10.8 percent on-year to 1.77 trillion won (1.54 billion US dollars). Operating profit dropped 15.5 percent on-year to 1.34 trillion won while sales rose 6.7 percent to 22.35 trillion won.
The company said car sales remained sluggish in Russia, Brazil and other emerging markets due to an economic slowdown caused by low crude oil prices.
In the January-March period, Hyundai sold 1.1 million vehicles at home and abroad, down 6.4 percent from a year earlier. Auto sales increased 3.7 percent on-year to 160,577 units at home but fell 7.9 percent to 946,800 units abroad.
In China, Hyundai's first-quarter car sales dropped 9.2 percent on-year to 4.38 trillion won. Sales in Russia were down 6.2 percent to 344 billion won and sales in Brazil tumbled 33.6 percent to 322 billion won.
The company forecast a continued slump in emerging markets in the second quarter but promised to improve its profitability by launching new models or expanding its lineup of sports utility vehicles (SUVs).
In Russia, Hyundai will launch a new compact version of Solaris and Creta, a small SUB, in the second half of this year in Russia. The company, however, said this year's total car sales in Russia are expected to fall 16 percent on-year to 2.1 million units.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
