At the end of last year, Dongfeng and Kia officially and peacefully separated, so far, Dongfeng Yueda Kia, which has been established for 20 years, has finally ended its historical mission. According to the plan, the share ratio of the future joint venture company is still in consultation with Yueda, and the final result will be announced in April 2022.
In the 20 years since entering China, Dongfeng Yueda Kia has climbed to the peak of sales in 2016, with cumulative annual sales of 650,000 vehicles. Affected by the external environment and various internal factors, Dongfeng Yueda Kia's sales have declined since then, and by 2021, annual sales have been less than 170,000 vehicles.
The departure of Dongfeng is a pity for Kia, but it is more of a freedom to release more discourse, and it also means that Kia will enter a new chapter with a new attitude. Without the strong backing of Dongfeng, Kia must cheer itself up, and to a large extent, it has also given Kia a warning: if it does not jump out of the comfort zone to make changes, it may really be eliminated by the market.
Nowadays, Yueda Kia has begun to "Dongfeng" and reshape the brand image.
On February 7, Volkswagen Kanche learned that South Korea's Kia Co., Ltd. signed an expansion investment agreement with the Yancheng People's Government and Jiangsu Yueda Group. Song Husheng, President of Kia Co., Ltd., Zhou Bin, Acting Mayor of Yancheng City Government, Zhang Naiwen, Chairman of Jiangsu Yueda Group, and Liu Changsheng, General Manager of Dongfeng Yueda Kia, witnessed the signing of the agreement.
Kia and Yueda plan to form a new joint venture to open a new era of joint ventures. The new joint venture plans to increase capital by USD 900 million and rapidly increase vehicle sales and capacity utilization through expanding investment, introducing new models, developing new energy vehicles, and setting up an export base. According to the plan, the new company name will be released in April this year.
The Yancheng government will fully support Kia's expansion of sales in the Chinese market and support the export trade of Kia's Yancheng plant to help Kia's development in China. Since Its entry into China in 2002, it has sold nearly 6 million vehicles, and at the same time, it has strongly driven the development of the local auto parts industry.
It is reported that Kia will focus on promoting the introduction of global strategic models and new energy vehicles. The new models launched this year will be equipped with a large number of safety configurations and new technology configurations to further enhance product performance and market competitiveness, and together with models on sale such as Jawa and SmartCar Ace, kia's global strategic model lineup will be improved.
From next year to 2027, Kia will integrate into the global system and increase investment in the Chinese market, Kia will pay more attention to the needs of Chinese consumers, and combine globalization and localization. Starting from the new EV6, Kia will launch a new electric model in the Chinese market every year, gradually building a new EV matrix of six electric vehicles.
At the same time, Kia will also actively carry out innovative marketing activities to show Chinese consumers the vision of "New Kia" and sustainable future business. With the dealer location as the center, strengthen regional marketing, and effectively increase the consumer brand experience touchpoints; at the same time, continue to carry out "door-to-door test drive" and "door-to-door service" throughout the year, so that consumers can test drive new cars at home and meet the basic after-sales service, and enjoy a good brand experience. At the same time, the new SI (Terminal Image System) will be applied to all 4S stores and city exhibition halls, so that everyone can feel the new Kia brand image.
2022 coincides with the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and South Korea and the 20th anniversary of Kia's brand entry into China, and it is also a key year for Kia to deepen its strategy of brand renewal and 2045 carbon neutrality. Taking this signing as an opportunity, with the support of the Yancheng City Government and Yueda Group, Kia will take root in Yancheng, based on the Turn-around strategy and "All New Kia, All New Start!" "Business policy, accelerate the implementation of global strategy, integrate global resources, better feed the Chinese market, and provide Chinese consumers with more products and services worth looking forward to."
As Kia executives said: "In order to coincide with the launch of the new joint venture led by our company, with the support of Jiangsu Yueda Group, we will transplant our global capabilities to China and achieve a rebound in China business this year through effective decision-making and substantive business promotion." In the future, we will seek the best structure for the sustainable growth of the Chinese market."
Kanche said:
This time, Kia signed an expansion investment agreement with Yueda, promising to rapidly increase vehicle sales and capacity utilization rates by expanding investment, introducing new models, developing new energy vehicles, and setting up export bases. It is not difficult to see that Kia's recent series of strategic planning and deployment have also shown its determination and courage to transform, and it is also the key premise for Kia to return to the mainstream of the car track. However, the total production and sales in China in the next decade will exceed 4 million vehicles, which is really a lot of pressure for Kia, and we will wait and see how it will be.