Under the premise that the entire car manufacturing trend and the car market are becoming more and more environmentally friendly and green, electrification has become the secret of the new forces of major car manufacturing. According to the latest new energy sales forecast data released by the Association of Automobile Manufacturers, it is expected that the sales of new energy vehicles will reach 5 million units in 2022, with a penetration rate of 22.0%.
Under such a large market demand, in addition to the new forces in the fast horse, to further consolidate their position just sat hot. For traditional car companies, it is a new challenge, they not only have to break the relatively conservative barriers of traditional car companies, but also come up with products and management that are far beyond the past. But among them, hyundai Kia, the world's top 5 automobile group, gave us a surprise performance.
In 2020, Hyundai Kia Group ranked fourth in the world in annual sales, while sales in the first three quarters of 2021 have risen to third place. In addition, in September this year, Hyundai Kia surpassed Toyota in sales in Europe and became the number one brand among non-local car companies. But interestingly, behind this data, there is also a new energy report card. As of now, hyundai Kia's global electric vehicle sales this year also ranked third, and it is obvious that Kia's upward determination and strong strength can achieve "traditional" and "future" co-development. With the withdrawal of "Dongfeng" and the establishment of a new joint venture next year, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of entering China, Kia is trying to seek to take off again in the Chinese market.
Globalization strategy Electrification and high-end play a leading role
For the entire Hyundai Kia Group, 2022 is undoubtedly a crucial year, and Kia, which is about to usher in the second phase of development in the Chinese market, will obviously face more challenges and pressures. To this end, Kia will accelerate the globalization of the brand of the new joint venture, including the global unified image of the brand and the acceleration of the implementation of the strategy.
In this year, in order to actively innovate and change, respond to the global changes of digitalization and electrification, start a comprehensive transformation, and release a new logo, they also broke through the positioning of traditional car manufacturers and invested in a broader travel service latitude, so they had to mention Asia's "2045 carbon neutrality strategy" and "Plan S" medium- and long-term strategy.
Just this past November, Kia unveiled its corporate vision for Sustainable Mobility Solutions Provider and made the Carbon Neutrality Strategy 2045 a key task in achieving this vision. In order to achieve this corporate vision, Kia has taken the "Carbon Neutrality Strategy 2045" as the basic premise and decided to offset carbon emissions with sustainable mobility, sustainable planet and sustainable energy as the main goals.
In fact, in order to be more in line with the goal of "sustainable" development and in response to the development of the Chinese market for carbon neutrality strategy, Kia has proposed the medium- and long-term strategy of "Plan S" as early as last year, and after further refining and strengthening the strategy this year, it has also been more clearly transformed into the two core directions of the future of "electric vehicles and environmentally friendly mobility".
Based on these two strategies, Kia plans to launch a total of 11 electric vehicles by 2026, of which 7 are expected to be newly developed pure electric models, all of which will be derived from the E-GMP architecture. Globally, Kia has set a global sales target of 1.6 million new energy vehicles by 2030. As the most important Chinese market in their transformation link, the sales ratio of hybrid and pure electric is planned to reach 50:50, and finally realize the vision of becoming one of the world's first-class electric vehicle brands.
Of course, electrification is only a change in the form of energy, and if you really want to go deep into the hearts of consumers and get to the consumer's point, you must undoubtedly return to the product itself. Therefore, high-end naturally becomes another core of Kia's future development. In this regard, it is not difficult to see from the fourth generation of Jiahua models launched by Kia this year that the official guidance price has reached the price level of 300,000, coupled with the more sophisticated car manufacturing process, scientific and technological content, as well as the materials and spacious space of the interior, which have laid the identity of its high-end flagship home MPV.
At the same time, the EV6, which has already "met" with everyone at the Shanghai Auto Show, further proves Kia's simultaneous and rapid development on the road of electrification and high-end. The EV6, the first all-electric model based on the new E-GMP electric architecture, will be equipped with a smarter Kia Connect and advanced driver assistance system. The introduction of a global high-end electric vehicle can undoubtedly enable consumers to experience a smarter and more convenient car experience, and also has a great role in enhancing the credibility of products and brands.
Therefore, it can be said that Kia's first step in deepening China is not only the opening of the globalization strategy, but also the hope to further enhance the use of a greener, environmentally friendly, comfortable and high-quality car experience through a strong product line and high-quality products.
From the inside to the outside" de-degeneration, efficient management is deeply rooted in the Chinese market
For the whole of Kia, the product has long become their hard power, but back to the brand level, the new architecture, efficient management is undoubtedly a very important part of the brand's upward development. So Kia is equally impressed by these details.
In terms of operation and management, Kia has chosen a "de-change" model from the inside out. Since we want to deeply cultivate the Chinese market, it is natural to introduce excellent talents who better understand the development laws of the Chinese market and understand the needs of Chinese consumers, so as to achieve a localization development model in a real sense.
In addition, in terms of dealers, Kia has also begun to transform and continuously promote the "retail-centric" business model, formulate more scientific and reasonable retail indicators and policies according to market conditions, and cancel the car pick-up indicators to reduce the burden on dealers. At the same time, we will increase the launch of new models, thereby greatly enhancing the vitality and motivation of dealers. In fact, back to the fundamentals, the confidence of dealers is enough, naturally it will also give consumers a new look, bringing a better sales experience, accurately saying that this is a win-win development direction.
What is more interesting is that Kia has further clarified the user-centric direction, especially emphasizing the need to strengthen the MZ generation as the target group, according to the MZ generation's user preferences and life scenarios, with the help of events, games and other resources, combined with online and offline integrated marketing, to carry out cross-border strong IP strong cooperation. On this basis, the digital platform and channel network are optimized, so as to enhance the user's sense of participation and belonging through warm and emotional interaction and dialogue, so that every user can feel the brand's intentions and resonate.
It can be seen that Kia's future development will no longer be limited to the product itself, but like a new power enterprise, around the consumer to create more suitable for "localization" sales and development models, so that consumers can resonate with the brand, thereby enhancing consumers' trust and sense of belonging to the brand.
Write at the end:
In the current era of new car-making forces, it is undoubtedly a very difficult thing for traditional car companies to make a difference and achieve brand upwards. But it is gratifying that Kia's strategic layout of globalization and even the plan to deepen cultivation in China have also seen many surprises, whether it is the introduction of global high-end models, or the establishment of a more efficient organizational management system and a new sales model in China, which means that Kia has "stepped out of the comfort zone" and begun to take off again on the new journey. It is precisely with this breakthrough that we are more hopeful that Kia can achieve more in the new year and future development.