In 2023, Hyundai Motors and Kia Motors achieved operating profits higher than Samsung Electronics, the country’s No. 1 company by market capitalization. Both automakers also posted double-digit operating profit margins, higher than Tesla Inc., which is driving the global electric vehicle boom.
Hyundai Motor announced in its financial results conference on January 25 that consolidated sales in 2023 will increase by 14.4% from the previous year to 162,663.6 billion won (US$121,635.8 million), and operating profit will increase by 54.0% to 15,1269 trillion won. It was announced that it would be worth 100 million won. Sales increased by 14.4% compared to the same period last year, and operating income increased by 54% compared to the same period last year.
This is the company’s best performance ever, surpassing its previous records of 145,275 billion won in sales and 9,819.8 billion won in operating profit in 2022. Operating profit margin increased by 2.4 points from the previous year to 9.3%.
Kia Motors also announced record results. In 2023, Kia Motors recorded sales of 99,808.4 billion won and operating profit of 11,607.9 billion won. Compared to the previous year, sales increased by 15.3% and operating income increased by 60.5%. Kia Motors’ operating profit exceeded 10 trillion won on an annualized basis for the first time, and its operating profit margin reached double digits for the first time at 11.6%.
As a result, Hyundai and Kia’s sales last year totaled 26.47 trillion won, and their operating profits totaled 26.734 trillion won. The combined operating profit margin of Hyundai and Kia was 10.2%.
Not only did it surpass long-time leader Samsung Electronics (6.54 trillion won) in operating profit, but it also surpassed Tesla, the leader of the global electric vehicle boom, in operating profit margin (8.2%). Tesla’s sales in the fourth quarter of last year were US$25.167 billion, and its operating margin was slightly higher than the 7.6% in the third quarter of 2023, but about half of the 16.0% in the same period in 2022.
Hyundai Motors and Kia Motors’ record performance was driven by strong sales growth in key markets such as North America and Europe, including the United States, and increased sales of environmentally friendly, high-value-added vehicles.