The South Korean automaker has said selling the St. Petersburg plant would see it take a loss of close to $220 million.
But that was nothing like enough to stop earnings jumping over the latest quarter.
On Thursday, the firm said net profit hit around $1.7 billion over the October-December period.
That was up close to a third on the year before.
And the number would have been higher still but for unfavourable exchange rates.
Shares in the firm jumped 2% following the news, outpacing a broadly flat day for Seoul's benchmark Kospi index.
Looking ahead though, the firm says the business environment is hard to predict.
It's worried about a possible downturn in the global economy.
While it expects sales to jump close to 5% in North America, it thinks that will be offset by falls in China and Europe.
Analysts note that, like peers, Hyundai faces a challenge from higher interest rates, which have made new cars unaffordable for some buyers.
