Recently, it has been reported that Beijing Hyundai's factory in Chongqing may be in a state of shutdown. "Beijing Hyundai's factory in Chongqing has no output now, and most of the workers are on holiday." An insider in Beijing Hyundai said the Chongqing plant had stopped production since December last year. In response, Beijing Hyundai responded that it did not receive any internal documents regarding the suspension of production.
The picture shows the Beijing Hyundai Chongqing factory
Regardless of whether the Beijing Hyundai Chongqing factory has really stopped production, the performance of Beijing Hyundai's current dismal market sales in China has also made us worry about Hyundai's situation and future in China.
Many models on sale have dismal sales, and Beijing Hyundai will really retire to China?
You know, in the past January, the sales data of Beijing Hyundai's 6 main sedan models can only be seen (14657 units), and the rest of the models like Yuedong, Sonata, Yuena, Mingtu, Fiesta and other models, their January sales are only a few hundred to a few thousand units, so in the face of 6 models with 5 models of dismal sales, how should Beijing Hyundai reverse this unfavorable situation? I think this deserves the careful consideration of the leaders of Beijing Hyundai's manufacturers.
On the other side of the SUV field, Beijing Hyundai is currently selling 4 models, they are ix35, Tucson, ix25, Shengda. From the january sales situation, their data are 8626 vehicles, 5076 vehicles, 426 vehicles and 389 vehicles, respectively, the overall situation is slightly better than the car, and the surface balance of 4 models on sale and 2 models is OK.
By combining the sales of Beijing Hyundai's cars and SUVs in China, it is too early to conclude that Hyundai will withdraw from the Chinese market, and we can only say that there is this trend and signs.
The past five years have not been good in Beijing Hyundai
Through the data released by the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, we can see that from 2016 to 2021, the market share of Korean cars in China's passenger cars has been only 7.3%, 4.63%, 4.98%, 4.7%, 3.8% and 2.4%. In January this year, the market share of Korean cars fell further, only 1.7%.
From this, we can also see that the market share of Korean cars led by Hyundai and Kia in China is indeed decreasing year by year. In the face of this unfavorable situation, Hyundai really needs to reorganize its product lines and marketing strategies in China.
Taking the Hyundai brand as an example, since 2017, Beijing Hyundai has fallen into the "Waterloo" of sales, and the cumulative sales of Beijing Hyundai in 2021 are only 385,000 vehicles, down 23.3% year-on-year. It is worth mentioning that this is already the fifth year of the decline in sales of Beijing Hyundai, so reform is imperative.
How to reform?
If we want to reform, it may be drastic. No, recent news pointed out that Beijing Hyundai is brewing a change in the joint venture share ratio.
It is reported that Hyundai Motor Group is working to increase its shareholding in beijing Hyundai, a joint venture in China, and it is reported that Hyundai may follow Kia's role in the new joint venture company in order to seek more dominance.
For this news, there is no relevant person to confirm it, but in fact, Hyundai wants to strengthen its dominance in the joint venture company for a long time.
In the middle of 2021, it was announced that Hyundai Motor will be ready to increase investment at the end of the year to increase its share ratio in Beijing Hyundai. For this kind of behavior, we can also understand that this is the Korean Hyundai wants to control more production, sales and marketing in the Chinese market.
After all, in the past 2021, Hyundai Kia's global car sales reached 6.668 million units, of which Hyundai's sales reached 3890981 units, an increase of 3.9% year-on-year, and Kia's global car sales were 2777056 units, an increase of 6.5% year-on-year. At this point, Hyundai Kia's total global automobile sales ranking has risen to third place.
Therefore, through the good sales performance of Hyundai Kia Group in the global automotive market, we can also see that in the face of sluggish sales in the domestic market, Hyundai wants to "personally" grasp a wave of sales data.
Du Junbao, deputy general manager of Beijing Hyundai
Finally, whether Beijing Hyundai will really have a change in the joint venture share ratio, we do not know at present. But if it does happen, it may not be a good thing for Beijing Hyundai. It's just that for the Chinese leadership of Beijing Hyundai, who is sitting firmly in the chair, life may not be so good. After all, if the share ratio between the two sides of the joint venture really changes, it is the South Koreans who have the final say. And this is probably something that the Chinese leadership of Beijing Hyundai does not want to see, what do you think?
Write at the end
Regardless of whether the shareholding ratio of the two sides of the Beijing Hyundai joint venture changes in the future, it is an indisputable fact that the sales volume of Beijing Hyundai is poor at present. In just five or six years, Beijing Hyundai has fallen from a car company with annual sales of one million to a third-rate car company with annual sales of less than 400,000 vehicles.
We believe that the "decline" of Beijing Hyundai is mainly related to the rise of independent brands and the downward exploration of the price of mainstream joint venture brands. Under this double pressure, the share of Korean cars in the Chinese market will naturally be further divided and cannibalized.
Finally, Korean cars now have no obvious label, and the high value that used to be famous now has no advantage in front of a large number of excellent domestic cars. In addition, the model has always used a dry dual-clutch transmission, which is considered by the Chinese people to be insincere. The brand influence is also gradually declining, and the product terminal discount is large, which makes the brand suffer a relatively large injury, so the situation is naturally becoming more and more "marginalized".
In short, how far can modern China go? I think this question can only be verified by time. After all, the top brass of Hyundai in South Korea and the Chinese leaders in Beijing Hyundai should be more anxious than we are, so let's wait and see. (Text/Univision Auto Dazhuo)
Note: The picture comes from the network, the rights belong to the original author, thank you! This article only represents the personal views of the author and does not represent the position of Univision Automobile.