Seoul, May 12 (IANS): South Korea's Hyundai Motor Group beat Volkswagen Group to rank second after Toyota Group in operating profit for the January-March period, their earnings data showed on Sunday.

In the first three months, Hyundai Motor Group posted an operating profit of 6.98 trillion won ($5.08 billion), higher than 6.78 trillion won reported by the German carmaker, according to their earnings results.

The won's weakness against the US dollar and strong sales of high-end models in the US and other major markets helped push up Hyundai's operating income in the past quarter, reports Yonhap news agency.

Toyota Group, which has Toyota Motor Corp. as its flagship affiliate, posted an operating profit of 9.8 trillion won in the January-March period.

The first three months are the fourth quarter of the 2023 fiscal year for the Japanese company.

Among the world's five biggest carmakers, that include GM Group and the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance, Hyundai Motor Group topped others in terms of operating profit margin in the January-March period, the data showed.

Hyundai Motor Group's two major car-manufacturing affiliates -- Hyundai Motor and Kia -- reported a combined operating profit margin of 10.4 per cent, followed by Toyota Group with 10 per cent, GM Group's 8.7 per cent, Volkswagen's 6.1 per cent, and the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi alliance's 4.3 per cent.