A Hyundai Motor Group official announced that the Korean company has ignored U.S. pressures against its trade relations with Iran, because Iran is a lucrative market with millions of dollars of profit, Joongangdaily reported.

“Export profitability in Iran is extremely good. And our top management decided to resume exports, since holding back due to pressure from a U.S. wasn’t right”, the official added.

For many Korean corporations, Hyundai Motor Group among them, Iran’s $818.7 billion economy is too rich to ignore. It’s still the 20th richest place in the world. Its economy grew 1 percent last year.

In February, Hyundai Motor and Kia Motors - both affiliates of Hyundai Motor Group - stopped shipping automobiles to Iran after the companies came under pressure from United Against Nuclear Iran (UANI), an American lobby group, for not complying with U.S. sanctions. In April, they reversed track, saying it “wasn’t right” that they continue to withhold their products from Iranians.

It was the first time that the Korean company decided to stop exports due to political pressure from a third party or country.

It all started last year when UANI sent a letter of complaint to Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Mong-koo. The letter was sent four months after the U.S. government imposed wide-ranging sanctions against Iran. The group demanded Hyundai Motor Group stop shipping its vehicles to Iran and join the U.S. sanctions.

Iran is a lucrative market, too, and by barring its automobiles from the country, it would lose millions of dollars of profit.

Hyundai exported 22,000 vehicles to Iran last year. Since most of them were mid- to large-size sedans and sports utility vehicles, the value was equivalent to exporting about 50,000 small cars. This year, 1,560 units shipped in January, none in February and March, 930 units in April, 1,800 in May and 2,000 units last month. Exports in the second half of the year are expected to hit over 2,000 units per month. This year’s figures are expected to increase by about 10 percent compared with last year, even with the two-month ban.

And weighing the pros and cons of stopping and not stopping exports to Iran, the company ultimately decided to do both: in response to pressure from the U.S., it decided to block exports to Iran for two months.

“This was the first time that we stopped exports due to political factors from a third country - in this case, the U.S. sanctions against Iran,” said a Hyundai Motor Group official.

However, two months was all Hyundai was willing to do, because of how lucrative the market is for the automaker.

 (Source: Joongangdaily)