Although the performance of the South Korean team was full of controversy at the Beijing Winter Olympics, the South Korean car companies that are currently in the midst of major changes in the car market are trying to stay in the Chinese market by all means.
On the first day of the opening of the Year of the Tiger, Liu Changsheng, general manager of Dongfeng Yueda Kia, and Song Husheng, president of Kia Co., Ltd., joined hands with Zhou Bin, acting mayor of Yancheng City Government, and Zhang Naiwen, chairman of Jiangsu Yueda Group, to open a "new adventure" in the post-joint venture era.
Since November last year, Dongfeng Motor officially transferred its 25% stake in Dongfeng Yueda Kia for 297 million yuan, and the internal balance of this joint venture, which was originally held by a tripartite, has been quietly broken.
In 2021, Dongfeng Yueda Kia Kia sold a total of 152,000 vehicles in the Chinese market, down 39% from 2020. In the eyes of the South Korean side, China, the global share of the market, which has now fallen to only 6.8%, has flashed a warning signal of alternating red and yellow.
Liu Changsheng, who wears the aura of "hyundai/Kia's brand building and development experts in China", has undoubtedly become the "firefighting captain" of the new joint venture.
Stepping into 2022, Liu Changsheng not only plans to step up the suspension of entry-level models below 100,000 yuan, readjust the company's strategy in China, and optimize the management and management of dealers in China... At the same time, it is necessary to form a new local operation team for the new company as soon as possible, which is the key to making Kia return to the mainstream track.
A series of chain reactions derived from the opening of the stock ratio are gradually opening a new chapter for this century-old change in the automobile industry.
Dongfeng Motor Group, which is headed by Zhu Yanfeng, may be the first protagonist to appear in the new chapter. After withdrawing from the operation of Dongfeng Yueda Kia, it has recently been reported that its DPCA Automobile is also brewing a huge change.
According to media reports, the internal structure of Dongfeng Peugeot will be led by the French side, while Dongfeng Citroen will be led by the Chinese side.
Although the DPCA did not respond to this matter, it can be seen from the "oolong" made by The Stellantis Group and the GAC Group on the GAC FCA stock ratio before, and the automotive team is now eager to seek a greater voice in the Chinese market.
If the above rumors are true, it is obvious that Zhu Yanfeng will not easily make concessions in this adjustment of the Sino-French stock ratio.
"In the new year, DPCA should strengthen its initiative and take the lead and come up with system capabilities, methods and products that are more suitable for the Chinese market." Zhu Yanfeng repeatedly emphasized in the investigation of the DPCA company at the beginning of this year.
It can also be seen from this that not only Shenlong, but all joint venture companies are facing a new round of localization tests. Especially after the rapid growth of Chinese brand sales, the competition between Chinese and foreign brands is bound to enter a new stage.
For example, Mercedes-Benz, which has been seeking a breakthrough in the stock ratio without success, recently intended to change its name first to try to "change the luck".
In the view of Mercedes-Benz CEO Conlinson, after the official change of Daimler to Mercedes-Benz, the company will be able to better cope with the electrification transformation of the industry.
In the industry's view, behind this is more of its ambition to seek independent listing for Mercedes-Benz and seek higher market value.
Tesla, led by Musk, achieved sales of nearly one million electric vehicles last year, which undoubtedly had the greatest impact on traditional car companies like Mercedes-Benz.
The former "car inventor" wants to redefine the "luxury" of the new era of cars, although it seems that the difficulty of achieving it has been doubled, but it has also doubled the excitement of this competition.
The competition of the head players is certainly gripping, and a group of latecomers "struggling to survive" in the white-hot car market competition are also highly concerned.
Xu Jiayin, Yao Zhenhua and Huang Hongsheng, three people who tried their best to squeeze into the already crowded new car-making track, have now embarked on different paths of destiny.
Recently, a recruitment announcement of Hengchi Automobile suddenly brought the car company that was deeply involved in the turmoil back to attention, and it also made people wonder whether Xu Jiayin wanted to continue to tell the story of Hengchi.
However, it is worth mentioning that on January 12 this year, Hengchi Automobile launched the first model , Hengchi 5 , 12 days earlier than the original plan in the Tianjin factory off the production line, which means that Hengchi entered the countdown to mass production. Combined with the recruitment information, it seems that the Xu family's determination to print cars has not wavered.
After all, just a few days after Hengchi 5 rolled off the production line, Baoneng Automobile, led by Yao Zhenhua, held a high-profile new car tasting meeting at guangzhou Baoneng Qoros Cultural Center, and the BAO brand and qoros automobile's various models were exposed for the first time.
To the outside world, this seems to be Yao Zhenhua's "declaration of war" against Xu Jiayin. After all, the two people who also came from real estate have not really fought on the track of car building.
For Huang Hongsheng, the founder of Skyworth, if he can really sell 30,000 Skyworth cars this year, then for the above two real estate tycoons, it is definitely a win with a bright face.
It's just that there is a precedent that even Miss Dong has failed to successfully build a car by smashing tens of billions, and how effective is this cross-border car-making army led by Huang Hongsheng in the end, we still have to mark a big question mark.
Kung Fu shoots
The catalysis of the post-joint venture era has superimposed on the century-old changes in automobiles, and the differentiation between automobile companies has become more and more serious.
It is not easy to say how many opportunities are left for those who come after them, because the door of opportunity that is still open to them is gradually closing. But what is certain is that 2022 will be a pivotal year that will determine their destiny.