Recently, there is news that the Beijing Hyundai Chongqing factory may be in a state of suspension, and claimed that "the factory has no output now, and most of the workers are on holiday."
In this regard, the oxcart network asked Beijing Hyundai informed sources for verification, the person said: "The Chongqing factory is part of the production line stopped, workers are on vacation, but the engine factory, import model production line, etc. are still in operation, so it is not accurate to say that the factory stopped." ”
In addition, informed sources revealed to Oxcart That the Chongqing plant does have plans to gradually stop production of small cars and turn to large cars with higher efficiency.
According to public information, the Chongqing plant is the fifth plant established by Beijing Hyundai in China, with an annual production capacity of 300,000 vehicles and an annual engine production capacity of 300,000 units. Construction began in 2015 and was completed and put into operation in 2017, with the first phase of production including two A0-class cars and A-class cars such as Xinrina.
Beijing Hyundai previously built five plants in China, of which the first plant in Beijing resold the ideal car last year for the production of pure electric SUVs. At present, the plant has started renovation and is expected to be completed and put into operation in 2023, and the annual production capacity of 100,000 vehicles will be achieved in the first phase after production.
The remaining Beijing second and third plants, Cangzhou plant and Chongqing plant have a combined production capacity of about 1.27 million units.
According to the data, Beijing Hyundai's cumulative sales in 2021 are about 385,000 vehicles, down 23.3% year-on-year. How to deal with the current relative excess capacity is indeed one of the problems that need to be solved urgently. Previously, the second factory in Beijing was also rumored to be taken over by Xiaomi Automobile, but Beijing Hyundai insiders denied this rumor.
The reason for the rumors of the suspension of production in chongqing factories, the above-mentioned insiders analyzed the oxcart network: "Not long ago, there were problems in the capital chain of some suppliers, so the supply of individual products was forced to be interrupted, which indirectly led to the forced suspension of some models, and the rumors flowed out. ”
For the future of the Chongqing factory, the person said that the normal adjustment of the product structure is currently being made, and the way to optimize production capacity is "whether to cooperate with OEM or do new energy vehicles, it is still uncertain and is under discussion." ”
The dilemma of Beijing Hyundai is almost a common problem faced by all Korean brands in China.
Beijing Hyundai reached the peak of sales in 2016, and in the following years, executives left one after another, and the lack of follow-up to product changes caused Beijing Hyundai's decline year after year.
According to the data of the Association of Automobiles, the market share of Korean cars in China in 2021 was 2.7%, down 25.9% year-on-year, and the market share continued to decline to 2.4% in January 2021.
In response to this situation, Beijing Hyundai has carried out active self-help since 2020, successively launching models such as Elantra, the new Sonata, Tucson L, a new generation of Mingtu, And Kustu, etc., and the platform and technology have been strengthened. But except for the Elantra, which has stable monthly sales of more than 10,000, other models are difficult to say savior for the time being.
Dongfeng Yueda Kia, which is also a Korean car, directly encountered the withdrawal of Dongfeng Motor Group, one of its Chinese partners, and it is not yet known how it will develop in China in the future. In addition, Beijing Hyundai is also rumored to face changes in the joint venture share ratio, and Hyundai Group may gain more dominance from the changes.
However, as early as January this year, Cui Dongyou, general manager of Beijing Hyundai, responded that Beijing Hyundai had no plans to adjust the joint venture share ratio, and the joint venture contract would not expire until 2032.
In the previous financial performance guidance, Hyundai Group anchored the annual wholesale sales target for the Chinese market at 370,000 vehicles, an increase of 3.1% year-on-year. Under the relatively easy performance target, the direction of Beijing Hyundai's power is still the current transformation of intelligent electrification, user value improvement and other current transformation "obvious learning", as for the geometry of the effect, it can still only be old-fashioned.