As Detroit’s automakers shut production in March due to the coronavirus pandemic, South Korea’s Hyundai Motor cranked up its factories back home to ship cars to the United States, a move that is proving costly for the world’s fifth-largest auto group
Hyundai ramped up domestic production to as much as 98 percent of capacity by late March, not only as the Korean market was recovering from a bad February but also because it bet on demand for Tucson crossovers and other models from U.S. customers, its biggest overseas market outside of China
Hyundai shipped 33,990 vehicles to the United States in March, or 4.3 percent more from a year ago, according to company data
The company idled a Tucson production line at home last week for five days. Analysts now expect a sharp drop in first-quarter operating profit when the company reports results on Thursday and some even forecast a second-quarter loss