Hyundai Motor quarterly profit dropped 39 percent

Hyundai Motor on Wednesday published a 39 percent fall in its quarterly net profit, missing a consensus forecast, struck by heavy discount to offer their smaller sedans that are losing ground in the U.S. and South Korea.

Hyundai Motor, the fifth-biggest automaker together with affiliate Kia Motors, reported an October-December net profit of 1 trillion won ($857 million), below the 1.5 trillion won ($1,286 million) average estimate of 14 experts polled by Thomson Reuters I/B/E/ S.

Sales for the fourth quarter dropped 0.1 percent to 24.5 trillion won, while running profit fell 33 percent to 1 trillion won.