Automaker’s profit unexpectedly rises 24%

Thursday, July 28, 2005 | 9:41 a.m.

Hyundai Motor Co., South Korea's largest automaker, posted an unexpected gain in second-quarter profit after selling more Santa Fe sport-utility vehicles and Sonata sedans produced in the U.S, China and India.

Net income climbed 24 percent to 613 billion won ($595 million) in the three months ended June 30 from a year earlier, the Seoul-based carmaker said in a statement today. Nine analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial estimated profit to fall 12 percent to 448 billion won. Sales and operating profit declined on higher costs of steel and a stronger won currency.

Chairman Chung Mong Koo is building plants in the U.S., the world's largest auto market, China and India to lift the group's global ranking to fifth-biggest producer in 2010 from seventh. Exports gained every month this year and last as Hyundai won customers worldwide.

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