seoul hyundai motor co reported today more than a 20 per cent drop in its first quarter profit as the antikorean sentiment in china sparked by the deployment of the us missile defense system battered the korean carmakers sales in its biggest auto market the company said its januarymarch net profit was 13 trillion won usd 12 billion down 21 per cent from 17 trillion won a year earlier its profit slide was smaller than what analysts expected factset a financial data provider said the market consensus was 122 trillion won sales rose 5 per cent to 234 trillion won usd 208 billion operating profit fell 7 per cent to 13 trillion won the biggest drag in earnings was the us missile system that triggered chinas anger and hurt korean businesses in the worlds most populous country hyundai motor the maker of tucson sports utility vehicles and sonata sedans said it sold 206000 cars in china during the first three months down 14 per cent from a year earlier in january and february hyundai appeared to have been on track for sales recovery in china that changed when south koreas defense ministry signed an agreement with lotte group in late february to use its golf course in the southwest to deploy the missile defense system known as thaad in march hyundai saw a sharp fall in its china car sales such sales fall is not due to the internal factor as you know it is the result of the antikorean sentiment that flared up within china since late february and some rivals that launched marketing to exploit the antikorean sentiment said koo zayong a vice president at hyundai motor south korea and the us say thaad is a deterrent against north korean aggression but china opposed it because it worries that its powerful radars could peer through its territory china has shown its displeasure in other areas too the oncesteady inflows of chinese tourists to south korea withered and lotte was ordered to stop operations of its big discount chains in china which cited safety violations instances of antikorean sentiments also emerged on chinese social media and some south korean schools canceled their trips to china hyundais performance in the us its secondbiggest market also dropped 3 per cent outweighing growth in western europe and india hyundai motor was also hit by massive recalls it estimated to cost around 200 billion won usd 178 million during the first quarter earlier this month hyundai and kia recalled 14 million cars in us canada and south korea due to possible engine failures pti published on apr 27 2017 at 0544 pm ist telegram facebook copy link be the first one to comment comment now comments comment now read comment 1 all comments post post find this comment offensive choose your reason below and click on the submit button this will alert our moderators to take actions reasons for reporting foul language defamatory inciting hatred against a certain community out of context