Hyundai Motor suffered an earnings shock last year. Although its sales of cars and overall sales increased slightly, operating profit plunged by more than 47%, compared to last year.
Hyundai Motor's sales increased by 1.8% from 2017 to 4,589,199 units in 2018, the company said on Jan. 24. Sales also edged up by 0.9 % year-on-year to 97.2 trillion won.
On the other hand, the operating profit showing the company's actual earnings stood at 2.4 trillion won, down 47.1 percent from the previous year.
"We achieved the expansion of sales of new cars and SUVs despite difficult business conditions, including the long-term low growth of the global economy and the spread of protectionism around the world," a Hyundai Motor official said.
"Because of external factors such as the fall of the won-dollar exchange rate and the weakening currencies of emerging economies, however, our profitability worsened and investment costs to enhance future competitiveness increased, resulting in a hike in cost price," he said.
