South Korea's Hyundai Motor <005380.KS> posted a 21 percent rise in quarterly net profit, meeting consensus, fueled by solid sales gains in the United States, Europe and other markets despite global economic uncertainty.

Hyundai, the world's fifth-biggest carmaker by sales, along with affiliate Kia Motors <000270.KS>, said its global sales rose 9.6 percent to 991,706 vehicles in the third quarter from a year earlier.

Once viewed as manufacturers of bland but economical cars, Hyundai and Kia have addressed design and reliability problems in recent years to outperform during the global financial crisis and have become formidable competitors to more established rivals.

Their sales are expected to remain solid in the fourth quarter with new models winning over consumers with attractive prices, features and styling, analysts said.

The South Korean duo will also continue to benefit from the cheaper won and the woes of Japanese rivals suffering from a strong yen and floods in Thailand, where some maintain production units, they said.

Still, maintaining sales momentum next year in the face of a slowing global economy, resurgent Japanese automakers, and their stretched manufacturing capacity is seen a challenge.

Hyundai's president, Chung Jin-haeng, told Reuters on Tuesday that Hyundai and Kia expected to beat their already upgraded 2011 sales targets of 6.5 million vehicles, but the growth rate is forecast to slow next year because of capacity constraints.

Hyundai on Thursday reported a 1.92 trillion won ($1.7 billion) net profit for the July to September quarter, in line with a consensus forecast of 1.89 trillion won from Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

That was up from a 1.59 trillion won net profit a year ago and down from 2.31 trillion won in the preceding quarter.

Shares in Hyundai Motor rose 0.7 percent versus the wider market's <.KS11> 1.1 percent gain as of 0507 GMT (1:07 a.m. EDT).

Its shares have jumped 29 percent this year, outperforming the broader market's <.KS11> 8 percent fall.

($1 = 1132.250 Korean Won)

(Reporting by Hyunjoo Jin; Editing by Matt Driskill and Jonathan Hopfner)

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