Hyundai Motor Co., the nation’s largest carmaker, logged a 37 percent increase in net income for the second quarter, beating consensus forecast on record overseas sales benefited from the demand-drop for Japanese carmakers after the March earthquake.

The company posted a net income of 2.3 trillion won ($2.2 billion) in the April-June period, posting a sharp increase from 1.68 trillion won in the same time last year, it announced Thursday afternoon. The consensus forecast from Bloomberg and Thomson Reuters ranged between 2.1 trillion won and 2.2 trillion won.

“The combined net income of Hyundai and its affiliate Kia Motors is expected to hover around $2.75 billion for the second quarter, which rivals that of Volkswagen forecast to post the biggest gain in the industry worldwide,” Kang Sung-min, an analyst at Hanwha Securities said.

Hyundai sold a total of 1,039,088 cars in overseas markets in the second quarter, posting a 13 percent increase from a year earlier. Domestic sales jumped 7.2 percent in the January-June period after selling 344,422 units.

Hyundai said its market share in the U.S. is now 5.5 percent, up from 4.7 percent of second quarter last year.

Analysts predicted the carmaker to post even higher profit for the second half of the year even as major exporters lose momentum on waning global consumer sentiment.

“Demand for Hyundai products is increasing with its quality improvement and brand power. The i40, as well as face lifting of i30 and Santa Fe will drive its sales even higher,” Park In-woo, an auto analyst at LIG Investment & Securities said in a report.

Hyundai Motors share closed at 239,000 won, down 1.65 percent from Wednesday.

(cynthiak@heraldcorp.com)