Recently, like many other commodities, the price of cars in South Korea has risen significantly, and new terms such as "auto inflation" have emerged. The automobile industry is one of the pillar industries in South Korea, in addition to the well-known supply chain bottlenecks and raw material price increases, what other factors have led to a "rise" in automobile prices?
The reporter came to the headquarters building of South Korea's Hyundai Motor Group. Hyundai and Kia Motors, a subsidiary of the Group, have a market share of about 80% in South Korea, and the price level of the products is very representative. In the past 10 months, Hyundai and Kia have updated a number of major models, and prices have increased by an average of 520,000 won or about 2,700 yuan. One of the best-selling models, the Elantra, which is known for its closeness to the people, is about 15,500 yuan more expensive than the old model this year. Although the performance has been greatly upgraded and the price is worth the money, many consumers still lament that the opportunity to choose a low-priced car itself is much less.
Prices are not only rising in South Korea's domestic cars, but also imported cars in the new car market, and even cars with good quality in the second-hand car market. This round of so-called "auto inflation" phenomenon, initially began with the shortage of on-board chips, and then supply chain problems led to a soaring price of body steel plates, coupled with the situation in Russia and Ukraine this year, copper, nickel and other metals became expensive, the problem of auto inflation is becoming long-term.
Due to the high cost and shortage of some raw materials, major vehicle companies began to adjust their product structure and concentrate their resources on the production of SUVs and luxury models with higher profit margins.
Such strategic adjustments, coupled with the environmental trend of energy conservation and emission reduction, have made the overall production of affordable cars shrink, and now the average selling price of new cars in South Korea has exceeded 40 million won, about 200,000 yuan. Given the convenience of public transportation in South Korea, car sharing and renting a car are also very convenient, if buying a car is too expensive, many people's willingness to buy will weaken. Therefore, experts also called on South Korea to systematically study solutions to save car production costs and respond to the challenges that may arise from changes in the purchasing power of automobiles in advance.
(CCTV Finance)