Hyundai Motor, South Korea's No.1 automaker, saw its operating profit increase 3.7 percent in the first quarter year on year due to brisk sales of new models, offsetting a negative effect from the weak Japanese yen trend, a regulatory filing showed Thursday.

Operating profit expanded 3.7 percent from a year earlier to 1. 94 trillion won (1.87 billion US dollars) during the January- March period, according to the regulatory filing.

Revenue rose 1.3 percent on year to 21.65 trillion won in the first quarter, but net income reduced 2.9 percent to 2.03 trillion won, it said.

Hyundai's global car sales grew 4.8 percent from a year earlier to 1,227,467 vehicles, with local and overseas sales reaching 160, 675 units and 1,066,792 units respectively.