[Edaily Reporter Kim Hyung-wook ] KIA CORPORATION posted its best-ever third-quarter performance this year, with revenue exceeding 31 trillion won. However, operating profit fell short of market expectations due to rising raw material prices and the fallout from the conflict in the Middle East.
KIA CORPORATION announced on the 30th, in its third-quarter 2026 financial results, that it recorded consolidated revenue of 31.597 trillion won and operating profit of 1.818 trillion won. Compared to the same period last year, revenue increased by 10.1% and operating profit by 24.3%. The operating profit margin stood at 5.8%, an improvement of 0.7 percentage points from the same period last year (5.1%).
The increase in operating profit was largely driven by a base effect, as profits had plummeted in the third quarter of last year when the burden of U.S. tariffs was fully reflected. Tariff costs decreased from 1.234 trillion won in the third quarter of last year to 701 billion won in the third quarter of this year. However, operating profit excluding tariffs actually decreased from 2.696 trillion won to 2.519 trillion won.
The results fell short of analysts’ forecasts. Securities firms had previously projected KIA CORPORATION’s third-quarter operating profit at around 2.4087 trillion won, but the actual figure was approximately 24% lower. Pre-tax profit fell 3.4% to 1.822 trillion won, while net income declined 9.6% to 1.286 trillion won.
The main causes of the decline in profitability are cited as rising material costs and the conflict in the Middle East. The company explained that the burden of higher material costs—driven by rising prices of non-ferrous metals such as aluminum and copper—accounted for 368 billion won of the operating profit decline, while sales disruptions in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region due to the prolonged conflict in the Middle East contributed 209 billion won to the decrease. Sales in the Middle East and North Africa fell by 16,000 units, a 28.4% decrease from the previous year. Expanded incentives in the U.S. market (-606 billion won) and price cuts (-121 billion won) also dragged down profits.
On the other hand, increased sales volume (+442 billion won), a rise in the won-dollar exchange rate (+529 billion won), and a decrease in other expenses—including a revaluation gain on sales warranty provisions (+413 billion won)—helped shore up profits. The average won-dollar exchange rate in the third quarter was 1,423 won, up 38 won (2.8%) from the same period last year.
Sales continued to perform well. Global local sales in the third quarter reached 829,000 units, a 6.9% increase year-over-year. This contrasts with global industry demand, which contracted by 6.0% during the same period. Consequently, the global market share reached a record high of 4.0% (5.0% excluding China). The domestic market share stood at 36.8%, and the U.S. market share at 5.8%, both marking record highs for a single quarter. Sales in Western Europe rose 16.9%, and in India, they increased by 38.5%.
Eco-friendly vehicles drove this growth. In the third quarter, sales of electrified vehicles—including hybrids (HEVs), plug-in hybrids (PHEVs), and battery electric vehicles (BEVs)—totaled 300,000 units, surging 47.0% year-over-year, while their share of total sales rose by 9.8 percentage points to 36.2%. In particular, hybrid sales in the U.S. rose 118% and electric vehicle sales in Western Europe increased 163%, each exceeding local market growth rates by 3 to 4 times.
For the first three quarters of this year, the company posted cumulative revenue of 94.136 trillion won (+9.4%) and operating profit of 6.652 trillion won (-8.1%). The cumulative operating profit margin stood at 7.1%.
A KIA CORPORATION spokesperson stated, “We continued to grow sales and market share even amid a decline in industry demand,” adding, “The slowdown in profitability is primarily driven by external factors such as rising material costs and the conflict in the Middle East; we expect a resilient recovery once the external environment stabilizes.”
