Hyundai Motor said net profit hit a record high in the first quarter on higher sales and strong performance in China and India, according to AP. Hyundai, South Korea's biggest automaker and a rising force in the global industry, earned 1.13 trillion won ($1.02 billion) in the three months ended March 31, it said in a regulatory filing Thursday. That was five times higher than its net profit of 225 billion won in the same period last year. Company spokesman Ki Jin-ho said the net profit figure was an all-time high on a quarterly basis. The maker of the Elantra and Sonata sedans and the luxury Genesis also said quarterly sales rose 39.6 percent to 8.42 trillion won from 6.03 trillion won a year earlier. The company's global sales during the quarter jumped 36.6 percent from a year earlier to 842,037 vehicles. Hyundai Motor Co., which along with affiliate Kia Motors Corp. forms the world's fifth-largest automotive group, has seen its market share grow worldwide in recent years through an emphasis on quality and design. Global market share rose to 4.8 percent in the first quarter of 2010 from 4.7 percent the year before, according to Ki, the spokesman Hyundai said in January that market share in 2009 rose to 5.2 percent from 4.3 percent the year before and that it is targeting an increase to 5.4 percent this year. The company sold a record 3.11 million vehicles in 2009. Hyundai showed strong performance in China, India and the United States during the first quarter. Sales volume and revenue in China jumped 48.1 percent and 22.6 percent, respectively, from the year before, Hyundai said in presentation materials for investors. In India, sales volume increased 33.5 percent, while revenue rose 20.8 percent. Sales volume in the United States rose 78.3 percent and revenue gained 61.5 percent, though performance there contributed less to profits than China and India, Hyundai said. Both Hyundai and Kia have expanded aggressively overseas. Hyundai has factories in China, India, Turkey, the U.S. and the Czech Republic. Kia has plants in China and Slovakia and began production in the United States last year. Hyundai has two factories each in China and India and is planning a third in China. Shares in Hyundai Motor, which released results during afternoon trading, rose 0.4 percent to close at 125,000 won. The company's stock price tripled in 2009.
