Hyundai, Kia hope automobile profits rebound in 2021 after two straight decades of declines

SEOUL (Reuters) – South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co and affiliate Kia Motors Corp on Monday forecast blended worldwide vehicle product sales will bounce 11.5% in 2021 just after sliding for two consecutive a long time.

Their goal of 7.08 million automobiles arrives following the coronavirus pandemic despatched income past 12 months tumbling 12% to a 10 years lower of 6.35 million vehicles. That result is also more than 20% off a peak achieved in 2015.

When the automakers have missed their revenue predictions for the earlier six many years, analysts described this year’s concentrate on as practical. Shares in Hyundai Motor also completed 8% increased on Monday, bolstered by trader hopes for powerful electric motor vehicle gross sales this calendar year.

Hyundai’s Kona Electric has been bright spot for the automaker, with analysts expressing profits have been reliable inspite of a world recall after a sequence of fire incidents.

Kevin Yoo, an analyst at eBEST Investment & Securities, extra, having said that, that when vital car markets these types of as United States and Europe have begun to set the worst of the pandemic at the rear of them, competitiveness in electric vehicles is only established to raise.

“Other key automakers are anticipated to unveil a wave of new EVs in an work to meet governments’ ecosystem restrictions, as nicely as to catch up with Tesla,” he explained.

Soon after the shut on Monday, Hyundai stated a worker had died in an incident at a South Korean manufacturing unit. The plant has just been refitted to construct a new electric motor vehicle, the Ioniq 5 – which is set to be Hyundai’s first model making use of a new EV-only platform.

It was not immediately apparent when creation will resume.