Hyundai Motor India beats quarterly profit view on strong SUV demand

Hyundai Motor India reported a smaller-than-expected drop in fourth-quarter profit on Friday, helped by strong domestic and export demand for its higher-margin SUVs.

The unit of South Korea’s Hyundai Motor reported a consolidated profit of 12.56 billion rupees ($132.96 million)for the quarter ended March 31, from 16.14 billion rupees a year before.

Analysts, on average, had expected profit to fall to 12.37 billion rupees, per data compiled by LSEG.

Vehicle sales in India have picked up since New Delhi cut taxes last September, boosting showroom footfalls and supporting pricing power.

Hyundai Motor reports 31% drop in Q1 operating profit, meets forecasts

During the quarter Hyundai’s total sales rose 8.7% and exports gained 9.4% driven by strong demand for the Creta SUV, helping it fend off competition from local rival Mahindra.

That helped Hyundai offset the impact of high commodity prices due to the ongoing Iran war.

Quarterly revenue rose 5.4% to 189.16 billion rupees.