In a Thursday statement, the South Korean automaker Hyundai Motor reported an over four times year-on-year increase in its fourth-quarter net profit, largely because of a boost that the sales got from the economic recovery and tax incentives offered for new car purchases.

Statistically speaking, the fourth-quarter net profit of Hyundai Motor soared to 945.5 billion won, from the same quarter year before figures of 243.5 billion won; beating the average analyst estimates of an 828.6 billion won quarterly net profit, as per a Factset Research poll.

The company further said that its operating profit jumped 44 percent to 837.2 billion won during the quarter, from the earlier year’s 581.0 billion won. For the year 2009 as a whole, the net profit increased two-fold to 2.96 trillion won from 1.44 trillion won; while operating profit leaped 19 percent – from 1.88 trillion won to 2.24 trillion won.

The company’s fourth-quarter sales increased 9.3 percent to 9.65 trillion won from 8.83 trillion won; though, for the whole year, sales dropped 1.0 percent to won 31.86 trillion won from 32.19 trillion won.

Noting that the company is looking to sell 3.46 million vehicles in 2010, with the US launch of YF Sonata and Tucson SUV, Park Dong-wook - Senior VP of Motor Treasury Division - said: “We will stick to our own price policy depending on quality and brand value of our vehicles.”