The South Korean car manufacturer Hyundai has posted a sharp rise in profits last year thanks to growing popularity of its more expensive models. The surplus increased by 54 percent year-on-year to 12.27 trillion won (around 8.4 billion euros) in 2023, South Korea’s industry leader announced on Thursday.
In the final quarter, the surplus reportedly rose by another 29 percent to 2.2 trillion won. Together with its smaller sister Kia, Hyundai is one of the world’s ten largest car manufacturers.
Hyundai Motor recorded an increase of 14.4 percent in annual sales to 162.7 trillion won. The South Koreans sold 4.22 million cars. This corresponded to an increase of 6.9 percent.
The company attributed the growth primarily to increasing sales of SUVs and sedans from its luxury Genesis brand. Hyundai is also confident for the new year. It is difficult to predict how the business environment will develop, according to a company statement. But the company expects sales to grow by 4 to 5 percent. Hyundai is targeting a slight increase in sales to 4.24 million cars.
The automaker said it plans to expand investments to 12.4 trillion won this year. Of this, 4.9 trillion won are planned for research and development.