Previously, the 2022 World Car Awards announced 10 models shortlisted for the finals, and as a result, the Korean car "played its bravery" and successfully won 4 places, including hyundai Tucson and Kia EV6. However, the Zhiche faction noticed a message that contrasted with it. According to data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, the market share of Korean passenger cars in China in January this year was only 1.7%. The word "for" here is actually too mild, and the word "leftover" can more vividly highlight the current situation of Korean cars in the Chinese market.
A few years back, in the author's student days, Korean cars still have a high degree of activity in the market, and Korean cars speeding on the road are also everywhere. Think of that year, "X silk to buy a car has three treasures, so 8, K5, Mai Ruibao" this sentence is popular in the automotive circle, although there is a hint of ridicule in it, but it is the highlight of the Korean car in the Chinese market.
For domestic consumers, "cost-effective" used to be the most conspicuous label for Korean cars, but with the development of Chinese car brands in terms of technical strength and other joint venture brands "put down their bodies" to try the cost-effective route, Korean cars seem to be in an embarrassing situation of high or low. Why do Korean cars sell less and less in China?
The operating conditions are not optimistic
Korean cars are mainly Hyundai and Kia two major brands, in recent years, their performance in the European and American markets has become more prominent, while in Contrast to The domestic situation is not optimistic.
Zhichepai received the latest news from First Finance that Beijing Hyundai's factory in Chongqing may be in a state of suspension. An insider broke the news that the Beijing Hyundai Chongqing factory had stopped production since December last year, and now there is no production, and most workers are on holiday. However, Beijing Hyundai's claim is that no internal documents have been received regarding the suspension of production at this time.
It is not yet known whether the production will be stopped, but the production capacity of several modern factories in Beijing has greatly exceeded the sales demand. It is reported that Beijing Hyundai has five factories in the domestic layout, the identity of the first factory in Shunyi, Beijing has been transformed into an ideal car, in addition, Beijing Hyundai also has two factories in Beijing, one in Chongqing and one in Cangzhou, Hebei. Public data shows that the combined production capacity of beijing Hyundai's five major plants is about 1.65 million vehicles, and the remaining four factories have a production capacity of about 1.35 million vehicles except for the first plant. In contrast, the brand's cumulative sales in 2021 were only about 385,000 units, down 23.3% year-on-year, far from the sales target of 560,000 units.
Beijing Hyundai factory
In terms of sales, Kia, which is also a Korean brand, has been in a slump since 2017. In 2021, Kia's sales in the Chinese market were only about 163,400 units, down 34.5% year-on-year, achieving the achievement of "five consecutive declines". After reviewing the data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, Zhichepai found that from 2016 to 2021, the share of Korean cars in China's passenger car market decreased year by year, 7.35%, 4.63%, 4.98%, 4.7%, 3.8% and 2.4%. The 1.7% in January 2022 reflects the "tragic situation" of Korean cars in China.
Against the backdrop of poor market performance, Kia's business in China is also facing a major adjustment. Not long ago, Dongfeng Motor officially withdrew from Dongfeng Yueda Kia. The latest news said that Beijing Hyundai may be brewing a change in the joint venture share ratio, hyundai motor group is beginning to increase its shareholding in the Chinese joint venture company Beijing Hyundai, or follow Kia's role in the new joint venture company, seeking more dominance.
The embarrassment of being caught between the front and the back
The market share of Korean cars in China is constantly being squeezed, which is "who did a good job"? To know the answer to this question, we only need to figure out what kind of factional battle the Chinese auto market is currently.
In January this year, the total sales volume of the domestic passenger car market was 2.186 million units, an increase of 6.7% year-on-year. The sales volume of Chinese brand passenger cars exceeded one million units in the month, reaching 1.004 million units, an increase of more than average year-on-year, and the market share rose by 3.7 percentage points and later to 45.9%. In other words, for every 100 passenger cars sold in China, about 46 are Chinese brands. In contrast, the 1.7% market share of Korean brands is insignificant, and the 0.8% share of French brands is even more lamentable.
In about half of the remaining cakes, Ashkenazi, Japanese and American brands have declined compared with the same period last year, but they have maintained about 20% of the market share, while American brands account for about 9.2% of the proportion, there is an upward trend.
From this data, it is not difficult to see that domestic consumers' favor for Chinese brand models continues to rise, and German and Japanese brands rely on stable word of mouth is still the only glare when many people buy cars.
In "Why do Korean cars sell less and less in China?" Under the related topic, the Zhiche Faction noticed that the comments of many netizens can be described as to the point. Some people said that Korean cars are not competitive, the brand value is not as good as Japanese and German, the configuration materials and cost performance are not as good as domestic production; some people pointed out that after 2010, with the mainland economic development and continuous investment in scientific research, the quality of domestic cars is getting better and better, more and more able to meet the needs of the Chinese people, and the advantages of Korean cars are gradually gone; and even some netizens bluntly say that Korean cars are not up and down, and it feels a bit chicken ribs.
Kia Motors
Zhang Xiang, an analyst in the automotive industry, believes that it will still take a long time for Korean cars to change the predicament. It said: With the rise of independent brands and the downward exploration of the price of mainstream joint venture brand models, the market share of Korean cars has been squeezed out. Korean cars do not have obvious labels, and at the same time, they are also poor in brand power. In recent years, the terminal price of Korean cars has been greatly preferential, and the brand has been hurt more greatly, and the price range of their main products is below 150,000 yuan.
The loss of high-end and new energy
In recent years, high-end branding has become a major development trend in the automotive industry, and even Chinese brands with cost-effective labels have dared to participate in it. For example, Geely and Great Wall have launched two high-end brands, Lynk & Co and WEY, respectively, and some new domestic car-making forces that focus on the high-end market have also gained good momentum of development, such as Weilai Automobile and Ideal Automobile, which ranked in the first camp. Hyundai, a Korean brand, also introduced its luxury brand Genises in April last year. The brand's CEO He Ruisi said at the press conference that The launch of Genisesy's journey to China symbolizes another milestone in the brand's development – perhaps the most important one. Initially, Genises will focus on brand building.
We all know that there has never been a shortage of high-end brands in the Chinese auto market, and Audi has entered the domestic market as early as 30 years ago, and is still alive and well, and Mercedes-Benz, BMW and so on. Hyundai Motor's entry into the company should be the high activity and broad prospects of China's high-end automobile market. According to the data, the sales volume of high-end brand passenger cars produced in China in January was 381,000 units, an increase of 11.1% year-on-year, which is 4.4 percentage points higher than the overall growth rate of the passenger car market. If Genisais is successful, it will undoubtedly kill two birds with one stone for Hyundai Motor, which can not only enjoy the dividends of China's high-end automobile market, but also enhance the overall brand image of Hyundai Motor.
However, the reality is still not ideal fullness. Data from DasouChe Zhiyun shows that from April to September 2021, the total sales volume of Genises in China was only 61 vehicles. The industry monitoring data given by Zhongche.com shows that Jenisses sold 75 vehicles in the Chinese market in December, and last November was the peak of the brand's sales, reaching 107 vehicles. Such data is difficult to compare with the monthly sales of BBA popular single models exceeding 20,000, even compared with the Chinese brand Hongqi, there is a big gap. Of course, Genises is almost a brand new for Chinese consumers, which does require a long process of recognition and acceptance.
In addition to the fact that the road to high-end is not smooth, Korean cars have not shown much initiative in the field of new energy vehicles that are currently on fire. In the product sequence of Beijing Hyundai, there are at least 5 models in the new energy sector, including Tucson L hybrid, Festa pure electric, etc., but the models that really have sound volume are almost equal to zero. Kia attaches less importance to new energy vehicles, and only two new energy models are launched to the Chinese market.
Ani Kr 5
Hyundai Motor previously released its new exclusive brand of electric vehicles, Ani Krypton, and its first model, Ani Kr 5, was officially unveiled at the 2021 Shanghai Auto Show and will be officially introduced into China this year. Even if a crucial step is taken, Hyundai will face many strong competitors. Among the new forces, regardless of the momentum of Wei Xiaoli, Tesla is the well-deserved boss in the field of electric vehicles, the latest data of the Association, Tesla Model Y ranked second in the new energy SUV sales list in January, this car is also the fourth place in the high-end SUV sales list that month, and can already break the wrist with Audi Q5 and other models. In the camp of traditional car companies, BYD's new energy vehicle business is getting stronger and stronger, and it is the largest new energy vehicle manufacturer in China, and its leading edge is huge. Among the joint venture brands, Volkswagen's ID family has also begun to show its strength, and the two sister models of ID.4 ranked 11th and 12th in the january new energy SUV sales list. Looking at the various lists of new energy vehicles, Korean brand models are like wearing invisibility clothing. This fully shows that the layout of Korean car companies in the field of domestic new energy vehicles is lagging behind.
In summary, Korean cars seem to have encountered the situation of "no road", in order to save the decline in sales, Hyundai motors need to come up with more business wisdom.