(LEAD) Hyundai Motor Q2 net rises 25 pct on SUVs, weak won

South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co. said Thursday its second-quarter net profit rose 25 percent from a year earlier helped by an improved product mix and a weak won. Net profit for the three months ended on June 30 climbed to 4.17 trillion won (US$3.01 billion) from 3.35 trillion won in the same period of last year, the company said in a statement. "A combination of increased sales of SUVs and other high-end vehicles and the won's weakness (against the U.S. dollar) resulted in the quarterly record net result. Expanded sales of gasoline hybrid and other environment friendly models also helped," the statement said. The dollar rose to an average of 1,370.91 won in the June quarter from 1,314.68 won a year earlier, according to data from the Bank of Korea. A weak won drives up an exporter's dollar-denominated income when converted into the local currency. Looking ahead, Hyundai said high lending rates and rising incentives due to tougher competition among carmakers will continue to remain "risk factors" in the se cond half. To boost sales, Hyundai will further beef up the gasoline hybrid model lineup to ride out the current slowdown in the electric vehicle market and adjust production schedules depending on market demands, while focusing on SUVs and high-end Genesis models, the statement said. Operating profit rose 0.7 percent to 4.28 trillion won in the June quarter from 4.25 trillion won a year ago. Sales were up 6.6 percent to 45.02 trillion won from 42.23 trillion won during the same period. Robust sales of SUV models, including the GV80 SUV under Hyundai's independent Genesis brand, in the U.S. market helped offset lackluster sales in China, the statement said. From January to June, net income rose 12 percent to 7.55 trillion won from 6.77 trillion won in the year-ago period. Operating profit fell 0.7 percent to 7.84 trillion won in the first six months from 7.89 trillion won a year ago, while sales gained 7.1 percent to 85.68 trillion won from 80 trillion won. In the first six months, the maker of Sonata s edans and Santa Fe SUVs sold 2.06 million vehicles, down 0.8 percent from 2.08 million autos a year earlier. It has set a sales target of 4.24 million autos for this year, including overseas sales of 3.54 million units. Source: Yonhap News Agency