At a time when global demand is cooling down, Hyundai Motor's net profit for the second quarter is weakening. This is the latest setback experienced by South Korea's largest automaker. At a time when Hyundai Motor Company announced weak results, the company's union workers in South Korea held a partial strike for the second week in a row to demand wage increases. This week, the strike time per shift doubled to four hours. While artificial intelligence and robotics technology are developing, the union is also seeking employment protection and opposes management's plan to deploy humanoid robots to assembly lines within two years. The automaker said on Thursday that in April-6, its net profit fell 11% year over year to 2.888 trillion won. This performance was better than FactSet's consolidated average forecast of 2.66 trillion won. Revenue increased 1.9% to 49.215 trillion won, while operating profit decreased 21% to 2.851 trillion won. The company said global car sales fell 6.9% year-on-year in the quarter, leading to a 4.9% drop in sales in the first half of the year. After the results were announced, Hyundai Motor's stock price recently rose 2.5%. By sales volume, Hyundai and its sister company Kia are the world's third-largest automakers. Since this year, the company's stock price has risen by more than 40%, falling behind the benchmark Korea Composite Index by more than 60%.

At a time when global demand is cooling down, Hyundai Motor's net profit for the second quarter is weakening. This is the latest setback experienced by South Korea's largest automaker. At a time when Hyundai Motor Company announced weak results, the company's union workers in South Korea held a partial strike for the second week in a row to demand wage increases. This week, the strike time per shift doubled to four hours. While artificial intelligence and robotics technology are developing, the union is also seeking employment protection and opposes management's plan to deploy humanoid robots to assembly lines within two years. The automaker said on Thursday that in April-6, its net profit fell 11% year over year to 2.888 trillion won. This performance was better than FactSet's consolidated average forecast of 2.66 trillion won. Revenue increased 1.9% to 49.215 trillion won, while operating profit decreased 21% to 2.851 trillion won. The company said global car sales fell 6.9% year-on-year in the quarter, leading to a 4.9% drop in sales in the first half of the year. After the results were announced, Hyundai Motor's stock price recently rose 2.5%. By sales volume, Hyundai and its sister company Kia are the world's third-largest automakers. Since this year, the company's stock price has risen by more than 40%, falling behind the benchmark Korea Composite Index by more than 60%.