Hyundai Motor beats Volkswagen in Jan.-March operating profit

South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Group beat Volkswagen Group to rank second after Toyota Group in operating profit for the January-March period, their earnings data showed Sunday.

In the first three months, Hyundai Motor Group posted an operating profit of 6.98 trillion won (US$5.08 billion), higher than 6.78 trillion won reported by the German carmaker, according to their earnings results.

The won’s weakness against the U.S. dollar and strong sales of high-end models in the United States and other major markets helped push up Hyundai’s operating income in the past quarter.

Toyota Group, which has Toyota Motor Corp. as its flagship affiliate, posted an operating profit of 9.8 trillion won in the January-March period. The first three months is the fourth quarter of the 2023 fiscal year for the Japanese company.

Among the world’s five biggest carmakers that include GM Group and the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, Hyundai Motor Group topped others in terms of operating profit margin in the January-March period, the data showed.

Hyundai Motor Group’s two major car-manufacturing affiliates — Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp. — reported a combined operating profit margin of 10.4 percent, followed by Toyota Group with 10 percent, GM Group’s 8.7 percent, Volkswagen’s 6.1 percent, and the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance’s 4.3 percent.