Car Blog

Korean car manufacturer Hyundai Motor reports a 21% jump of its 3rd quarter earnings primarily because of the strong performance of its Tucson SUV and the Sonata Sedan. The net income of Hyundai is pegged at 1.92 trillion won or US$1.7 billion for the three months ending September 30 compared to last year’s 1.59 trillion.

The Seoul-based carmaker is considered as the biggest manufacturer of vehicles in South Korea and has a projected profit of 1.89 trillion won according estimates by analysts. Hyundai will most likely sell around four million units this year as they increase production in plants located in their bigger markets like China. The carmaker might achieve record earnings for 2011 and might surpass profits made by Toyota Motor of Japan.

The earnings of Hyundai affirms the competitiveness of the brand in markets overseas. Forecasts say that Hyundai might fare better than other car manufacturers as the demand lowers next year.

From January of 2011, Hyundai has delivered about 3 million units and they are most likely to hit more than four millions sold units this year. The initial goal of the company was pegged at 3.9 million vehicles.

The demand in China is huge as the monthly sales of the Hyundai Sonata hit 10,000 units every month starting last September. The company also beefed up their operations in Russia after it started the production of the refreshed Rio of Korean affiliate Kia Motors.

The sales of Hyundai in China jumped by 12% which translates to 553,000 units for the first three quarters of the year. Sales in Korea rose by 7.3% or about 510,000 vehicles. Sales in the United States increased by 20% for the first three quarters while Europe sales also improved by 9.4%.