Hyundai Motor profit skids 39% in Q4

Sales for the fourth quarter fell 0.1%, while operating profit dropped 33%

Hyundai Motor on Wednesday posted a 39 per cent drop in its quarterly net profit, missing a consensus forecast, hit by heavy discounts to sell their smaller sedans that are losing ground in South Korea and the United States.

Hyundai Motor, the world's fifth-biggest automaker along with affiliate Kia Motors Corp, reported an October-December net profit of 1 trillion won ($858.07 million), below the 1.5 trillion won average estimate of 14 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

Sales for the fourth quarter fell 0.1 per cent to 24.5 trillion won, while operating profit dropped 33 per cent to 1 trillion won.