SEOUL: South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co (005380.KS) said on Tuesday it had finalised a $5 billion electric vehicle (EV) battery joint venture in North America, as it reported first-quarter net profit had more than doubled, exceeding expectations.

Hyundai and partner SK On, a battery unit of SK Innovation Co Ltd (096770.KS), will set up a new battery manufacturing plant in the state of Georgia, the companies said, formalising an earlier provisional agreement.

Hyundai reported a net profit of 3.3 trillion won ($2.47 billion) for the January-March period versus a profit of 1.6 trillion won a year earlier, thanks to a rise in vehicle output as a global chip shortage eased and demand for its high-margin sport-utility vehicles remained strong.

That compared with a Refinitiv SmartEstimate for first-quarter profit of 2.3 trillion won from 16 analysts.