Hyundai Motor's robotics momentum overshadowed by sales decline

Hyundai Motor's stock has fallen sharply, erasing robotics-driven gains, as domestic vehicle sales plunged 10.8% in the first half of the year, shifting investor focus back to the core automotive business.

Hyundai Motor’s stock has surrendered much of this year's robotics-driven gains, as the carmaker's steeply falling vehicle sales shift investor focus back to the firm's core business. The carmaker earned a spotlight from investors earlier this year on expectations that its robotics business — centered on humanoid robot development and physical artificial intelligence AI technologies — would become a new growth engine. However, Hyundai Motor's shares have retreated sharply, erasing much of the premium that investors had attached to the company's long-term technology ambitions. Market analysts and industry officials argue that the firm will be able to regain confidence from investors only after displaying a clear vision that its core automotive business can recover from the weakening sales. Hyundai Motor recorded weak performance in the Korean market in the first half of the year. Domestic sales plunged 10.8 percent between January and June from a year earlier. In April, Hyundai Motor temporarily surrendered the title of Korea's best-selling automaker to its sister carmaker Kia for