Hyundai begins 2008 with a bang
Helped by a weaker won and the launch of a new premium model, Hyundai Motor Company, Korea’s top automaker, saw record first-quarter sales and a surge in profits.The firm’s sales reached 8.2 trillion won ($8.2 billion) in the January-March period, Hyundai Motor executives said yesterday at an investor relations meeting in Yeouido, central Seoul. That is up 22 percent year-on-year and higher than any first-quarter sales figures in the past. Operating profit surged 61 percent to 529 billion won; net profit jumped 28 percent to 393 billion won.The automaker sold 443,000 vehicles in the first quarter, up 14 percent from a year earlier, after it launched the Genesis luxury sedan in January.
“Now the foreign exchange rate conditions are favorable to us,” T. H. Chung, vice president for finance and accounting, said in the meeting. He said the weaker won against the dollar and euro are helping Hyundai compete with Japanese rivals such as Toyota Motor and Honda Motor, which are now suffering in the global market from a stronger yen.“In such situations, we will conduct active marketing in Europe and the United States, which are our ultimate target markets,” he said.The won slipped 5.5 percent against the dollar and 13 percent against the euro in the quarter. On the other hand, the yen gained 12 percent against the dollar. “Though the weaker won can add to raw material costs, it is favorable to Hyundai Motor,” said Hyundai executive Park Dong-wook, “because exports account for two-thirds of Hyundai Motor’s total sales and the company has a $15 billion foreign currency surplus.”“For now, we have no plan to reflect the recent prices hikes of materials, including steel sheets, while 
making continued efforts to save costs,” Chung said. Posco, the world’s fourth-biggest steelmaker, has raised the price of cold-rolled steel sheets, which are used for vehicles’ bodies, by 31 percent so far this year.
making continued efforts to save costs,” Chung said. Posco, the world’s fourth-biggest steelmaker, has raised the price of cold-rolled steel sheets, which are used for vehicles’ bodies, by 31 percent so far this year.Separately, the combined sales from Hyundai Motor’s plants in the U.S., India, China and Turkey rose 22 percent in the first quarter over a year earlier. The Indian production base recorded the highest sales growth among them with a 52.6 percent surge, while the U.S. plant marked the lowest growth of 1.4 percent, amid a slowdown in its economy.Hyundai’s first-quarter results, however, disappointed investors after Hyundai posted huge derivatives losses related to currency hedging. After the earnings announcement, shares of Hyundai Motor fell 4.1 percent to close at 79,600 won.
by Joongagn daily
Although, Hyundai make bigger money than past, they know problems what they have and have to solve. The main problem is the cost of resources of car. The most important resource of car is steel. However, price of steel is rising and rising. Increase of steel cause increase of base cost of car. If car’s price be increased, their net profit will decrease. This situation can effect to the stock market. Already shares of Hyundai fell 4.1%.
Hyundai has to find solution as soon as possible. I recommend within compass…. how about Chinese steel? They will show us high growth rate of steel industry and supply enough amounts of steel at low price.
reference
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