Hyundai Motor revises down Q4 operating profit after costly Kona EV recall

South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co revised down its fourth-quarter operating profit by nearly a fifth after a costly $900 million recall to replace battery systems in some 82,000 electric vehicles globally.

It said on Thursday that the quarter's profit came in at 1.3 trillion won ($1.2 billion), down from the 1.6 trillion won it had initially reported in late January.

The recall mostly concerns the Kona EV, Hyundai's biggest-selling electric car which was first recalled late last year for a software upgrade after a spate of fires.

Hyundai's Kona EV uses batteries manufactured by LG Chem Ltd's wholly owned battery division LG Energy Solution.