Hyundai's profits fall despite record sales as it pushes into robotics

Hyundai Motor reported a 19.5% drop in operating profit for 2025, even though it sold a record number of vehicles. The company also missed its sales targets for the year.

At the same time, Hyundai is making a major push into robotics. It hired a former Tesla executive who worked on the Optimus humanoid robot as an adviser for Boston Dynamics, a robotics company it owns. Hyundai also showed off its Atlas humanoid robot at the CES tech show and is preparing to launch its Ioniq 5 robotaxi. The company's union in South Korea has warned that these robot plans could threaten human jobs.