Hyundai Motor Q1 net profit hits record high

Hyundai Motor said net profit hit a record high in the first quarter amid a jump in sales and strong performance in China and India.

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 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 volume 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 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 in 2008 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.