Hyundai Motor's Q3 profit tumbles 29%

SEOUL - Hyundai Motor, South Korea's largest automaker, saw its third-quarter operating profit post a double-digit decline as global economic slowdown and sagging domestic demand reduced car sales at home and abroad.

Operating profit was 1.07 trillion won (about $940 million) in the three months ending Sept 30, down 29 percent from the same period of last year, the company said in a regulatory filing.

Revenue declined 5.7 percent from a year earlier to 22.08 trillion won in the July-September period, and net income slumped 7.2 percent to 1.12 trillion won.

Hyundai's worsened earnings followed the protracted global economic slump especially in Brazil and Russia, major emerging markets of the South Korean automaker. It resulted in lower external demand.

In the domestic market, the end in June of a temporary tax cut in consumption tax led to weaker demand for cars.

Partial strikes by unionized workers continued from mid-July to late September, disrupting production and sales at home and abroad. It cost Hyundai about 3.1 trillion won.