Hyundai Motor's H1 2026 Operating Profit Falls 25.8% to 5.36 Trillion Won as Costs and a Supplier Fire Weigh on Results
Hyundai Motor Company has reported its results for the first half of 2026: operating profit fell 25.8% year on year to 5.36 trillion won, net profit declined 17.5% to 5.47 trillion won, and sales grew 2.7% to 95.15 trillion won. In the second quarter alone, net income of 2.88 trillion won, down 11.2%, came in above the market consensus of 2.59 trillion won. The company attributed the weaker profitability to higher raw material costs and to production losses caused by a fire at a major parts supplier.
H1 2026: operating profit down 25.8%, sales up 2.7%
SEOUL, July 23, 2026 — Hyundai Motor Company has published its operating results for the first half of 2026, covering the period from January through June. The half-year report shows a top line that continued to grow while both profit lines contracted against a strong prior-year base. Corporate announcements and investor materials of the company are published on its website at https://www.hyundai.com/.
The key reported figures for the first half of 2026 are as follows:
- sales — 95.15 trillion won, up 2.7% year on year from 92.68 trillion won;
- operating profit — 5.36 trillion won, down 25.8% year on year from 7.23 trillion won;
- net profit — 5.47 trillion won, down 17.5% year on year from 6.63 trillion won.
The divergence between the direction of sales and the direction of both profit lines is the defining feature of the half-year report: revenue reached a higher level than a year earlier, yet the operating result lost more than a quarter of its value over the same comparison period, and the net result gave up nearly a fifth.
What the company cited behind the profit decline
Two factors are named as the causes of the weaker first-half profitability. The first is higher raw material costs, which raised the cost base of vehicle production. The second is production losses caused by a fire at a major parts supplier, which interrupted the supply of components and therefore output. Together these pressures outweighed the 2.7% growth in sales and pulled the operating margin down against the prior-year level.
Second quarter: net income above market consensus
For the second quarter of 2026 taken separately, the company reported operating profit of 2.85 trillion won, down 20.8% year on year from 3.6 trillion won, and net income of 2.88 trillion won, equivalent to about US$2 billion, down 11.2%. The net figure exceeded the market consensus of 2.59 trillion won compiled by Yonhap Infomax, so the quarter's bottom line landed above analyst expectations even though it declined year on year. Quarterly sales rose 1.9% to 49.21 trillion won.
- Q2 operating profit — 2.85 trillion won, down 20.8% from 3.6 trillion won a year earlier;
- Q2 net income — 2.88 trillion won (about US$2 billion), down 11.2%, above the 2.59 trillion won consensus;
- Q2 sales — 49.21 trillion won, up 1.9% year on year.
The quarter therefore combined a year-on-year contraction with a beat against expectations: the decline was smaller than the market had priced in before the report was published.
Half-year context: a tariff-hit first quarter and the 2026 margin target
The first-half outcome follows a particularly weak opening quarter. In the first quarter of 2026, operating profit fell 30.8% year on year to 2.51 trillion won, a decline linked to US tariffs. The second quarter's smaller year-on-year decrease in operating profit, 20.8% against the first quarter's 30.8%, indicates that the pace of the decline moderated between the two quarters, although the cost pressures and the supply disruption described above kept the result below the prior-year level.
Against this backdrop the company's profitability guidance for the year remains in place: at its 2026 CEO Investor Day, Hyundai Motor set an operating margin target of 6.3% to 7.3% for 2026. The first-half figures reported on July 23, 2026 form the baseline against which progress toward that range will be measured over the remainder of the year.
Company information
Company: Hyundai Motor Company
Contacts: Hyundai Motor Investor Relations, Seoul; media enquiries via https://www.hyundai.com/worldwide/en/
Company website: https://www.hyundai.com/
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