Hyundai Motor Co. reported a 59 percent increase in second-quarter earnings on Thursday as demand for the South Korean automaker’s high-margin sport-utility vehicles (SUVs) remained robust and a weak won currency increased the value of foreign revenues .
The net profit increased from 1.8 trillion won to 2.8 trillion won ($2.13 billion) for the April-June period, surpassing the average analyst projection of 2.2 trillion won from Refinitiv SmartEstimate.
Despite a slowdown in sales volume amid a challenging economic environment, Hyundai Motor said in a statement that “a robust sales mix of SUV and Genesis luxury models, reduced incentives from a lower level of inventory, and a favorable foreign exchange environment helped lift revenue in the second quarter.”
With the global chip shortage beginning to ease, Hyundai was able to resume weekend and overtime work at its domestic operations, making up for the lost vehicle production brought on by the statewide trucker strike in June.
According to Lee Jae-il, an analyst at Eugene Investment & Securities, “after nearly two years of chip shortages, manufacturers, including Hyundai, are acquiring enough chips to produce at virtually full capacity.”
Shares of Hyundai Motor, one of the top 5 automakers in the world by sales along with subsidiary Kia Corp, were up 2.1 percent as of 0440 GMT, compared to a 0.7 percent increase in the KOSPI index as a whole.
 for the April-June period, the firm said.){kind=link}