Hyundai Motor Group's key overseas units turn profit in 2021

ajor overseas units of South Korean automaking titan Hyundai Motor Group were profitable in 2021 on brisk sales of eco-friendly vehicles and increased capacity utilization, company data showed Monday.

Hyundai Motor Co., the group's flagship, said its US production unit swung to a net profit of 237 billion won ($195 million) from a net loss of slightly over 1 trillion won the previous year.

It represented the subsidiary's first black ink in three years. Its net loss came to 228.2 billion won in 2019.

Hyundai Motor's subsidiary in Brazil also switched to a net profit of 41 billion won after losing money for the second consecutive year.

Hyundai Motor's sales subsidiary in America registered the largest net income of 1.03 trillion won last year, followed by its Indian unit with 437.4 billion won and its Czech plant with 417.5 billion won.

Hyundai Motor said major overseas units turned a profit last year thanks to strong sales of eco-friendly vehicles and greater capacity utilization, despite a global shortage of auto chips.

Hyundai Motor's US plants operated at 78.8 percent of capacity in 2021, up from 72.6 percent from a year earlier, with the operating rate of its Brazilian plant surging to 89.2 percent from 71.1 percent.

Kia Corp., Hyundai Motor's smaller affiliate, also saw its major overseas subsidiary make money thanks to rising green car sales and an increased plant operating rate.

Kia's US plant posted a net profit of 116.5 billion won last year, a sharp turnaround from a 615.7 billion-won loss and marking the first black ink in four years.

Kia's US sales unit chalked up a net income of 855.4 billion won, with its subsidiaries in Slovakia, Russia, India and Mexico also turning a profit.

Yet, Hyundai Motor Group's joint ventures in China remained in the red in 2021 due to the impact of a Seoul-Beijing row over the deployment of an advanced US missile defense system in South Korea in 2017, but their net losses narrowed.

Beijing Hyundai Motor, Hyundai's joint venture with China's Beijing BAIC Motor, registered a net loss of 1.01 trillion won, smaller than the 1.15 billion-won deficit a year earlier.

The net losses of Dengfeng Yueda Kia, Kia's joint venture with Dongfeng Motor Corp., narrowed to 783.2 billion won last year from 835.5 billion won a year earlier, according to the data. (Yonhap)