SEOUL — Hyundai Motor achieved its best quarterly profit in about six years, helped by solid demand for its high-margin crossovers and its premium Genesis cars.
The automaker reported net profit of 1.8 trillion won ($1.57 billion) for the April-June period versus 227 billion won in the same period a year earlier.
“Sales of (crossovers) and Genesis luxury brand models drove the momentum in sales volume, and declining incentives helped lift revenue and profitability in the second quarter as the ongoing recovery from the global COVID-19 pandemic spurred automotive demand,” Hyundai said in a statement.
The strong result was also backed by Hyundai’s conservative supply chain management, which has helped it navigate a global chip shortage better than many other automakers, analysts said.
But the prolonged shortage and other component supply issues have started catching up with Hyundai, disrupting its EV production in particular.
In April, Hyundai suspended production at a factory making the Ioniq 5 electric crossover because of chip and component supply issues.
On Thursday, the automaker said it expects sales growth might slow in the second half of 2021 due to challenging business conditions, including raw material price fluctuation and unstable supplies of automotive chips.
