Hyundai Motor Group announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and full year on Thursday, disclosing that its operating profit for the last quarter fell 40% compared to the same period last year.
Between September and December, the South Korean automaker reported a 1.7 trillion KRW ($1.2 billion) operating profit, down 39.9% year over year.
Despite its “highest ever fourth-quarter revenue” of 48.8 trillion KRW ($34 billion), the company saw net profit fall 52.1% compared to a year before, to just 1.18 trillion KRW ($823 million).
The company said the results reflected the impact of US tariffs on South Korean imported vehicles, plus higher incentives amid the end of the EV tax credit in the US and intensified competition across the industry overall.
It was the third consecutive decline in quarterly profit for Hyundai.
Annual operating profit also dropped by 20%, with a 6.2% margin, with the company citing “global trade uncertainties.”
The company exceeded its annual revenue guidance, achieving 6.3% growth compared to the 5–6% target.
Outlook
Looking ahead, it anticipates a modest growth of 1–2% in 2026, with an annual profit margin between 6.3% and 7.3%, representing an increase of just one percentage point.
Additionally, it expects to sell 4.16 million vehicles this year, after delivering 4,108,605 units in 2025.
Following “a challenging external environment including tariff impacts,” Hyundai is expecting it to “continue this year,” as auto sales are expected to stagnate across the industry.
Hyundai is also expecting increased competition in its domestic market, as the country recently lifted a 50,000-unit annual cap on US vehicle imports, a move that benefited automakers like Tesla.
Earlier this month, the Elon Musk-led company launched the Model 3 Standard in South Korea, its cheapest electric vehicle to date in the market, priced below both Hyundai and Kia models in the same segment.
To navigate this environment, “the company is reinforcing its leadership in electrification and expanding localized production capabilities, while advancing cost‑optimization across global operations,” it said.
Earlier this month, Hyundai Motor Group has appointed two ex-Tesla engineers to work on its autonomous projects, which include both robotics research through Boston Dynamics and self-driving unit 42dot.
Just weeks after former Tesla and Nvidia engineer Park Min-woo was appointed to lead the South Korean automaker’s autonomous driving program, local media outlet The Elec reported that Hyundai could be abandoning its “Atria AI” end-to-end autonomous driving technology and opting for Nvidia‘s instead.
South Korea x US Tariffs
In late July, the United States and South Korea have made a trade agreement, according to which the Trump Administration imposes a 15% tariff on imports coming from the country.
The deal lowered the duties from the initial 25% set last April.
However, earlier this week US President Donald Trump threatened to return South Korean tariffs to the initial rate, stating that the country had not lived up to its part in the trade deal.
Trump’s chief trade negotiator, Jamieson Greer, confirmed the tariff reduction on South Korean goods from 25% to 15% was implemented and, in return, South Korea pledged to invest $350 billion in the United States and to allow more US cars into the country, removing certain non-tariff barriers.
On Wednesday, commenting on the threats made earlier this week, Trump said, “We’ll work something out with South Korea.”
At the same time, several South Korean media outlets are reporting on a separate statement made this Thursday, where Trump referred to countries paying tariffs to the US as “cash machines.”
While criticizing the US Federal Reserve Chair Jeremy Powell, Trump wrote on Truth Social that “because of the vast amounts of money flowing into our Country because of Tariffs, we should be paying the LOWEST INTEREST RATE OF ANY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD.”
He added that “most of these countries are low interest rate paying cash machines, thought of as elegant, solid, and prime, only because the U.S.A. allows them to be.”
“The Tariffs being charged to them, while bringing in $BILLIONS to us, still allows most of them to have a significant trade surplus, though much smaller, with our beautiful, formerly abused Country,” Trump stated.
“In other words, I have been very nice, kind, and gentle to countries all over the World.”
