In 2021, Hyundai-Kia motors sold fourth in the world, reaching 6.668 million units, ranking behind Toyota (10.5 million units), Volkswagen (8.882 million units) and Renault Nissan (7.68 million units), and sales were higher than GM (6.002 million units), Strandtis (5.38 million units) and Honda (4.48 million units).
It can be found that Hyundai Kia is the only one of the top five automotive groups in the world that does not rely on the Chinese market. We only talk about Hyundai Motor, Hyundai Motor in 2021, the Chinese market will only sell 440,000 cars. It dropped 32.3 percent from 651,123 units in 2019, its worst since 2010. Hyundai, which created "Modern Speed" in the early to mid-2000s, has developed rapidly in China but has declined sharply in recent years. This is down 61 percent in four years compared to its 2016 highest sales of 1.14 million units in 2016.
This is even more painful than last year, and despite the impact of the epidemic, the size of the entire Chinese auto market has only fallen by 6.6%. China is the world's largest auto market and the only country in the world to sell more than 20 million new cars.
According to the Korea Automobile Manufacturers Association (KAMA), more than 10 million vehicles were sold in China in the first half of last year. That's about 4 million more units than the U.S., the second-largest market.
In order to achieve hyundai's operating margin of 4-5% set this year, it is very important to make Hyundai rise again.
The reason for Hyundai's sluggish performance is that it cannot cope with the trend of large-scale, high-end and electrification in the Chinese market. In China, modern is widely seen as an ambiguous brand. Compared with European and Japanese cars, the brand power has decreased significantly, and it has been forced to compete with local Chinese companies in price.
To improve the situation, Hyundai Motor President Jeong Yoshin last year appointed President Lee Kwang-kwok, who has achieved success in South Korea and is known as a sales strategist, as the general manager of the Chinese business. In the second half of last year, Chairman Li began to work hard to improve the efficiency of the dealer network, reduce wholesale sales to dealers, and expand retail sales through direct stores. While reducing their dealer network, they're trying to recover by starting online sales, exporting big SUVs, and launching luxury car brand Geniseses in China, but that's not enough. Hyundai Motor Company founded Genesis Motor China (GMC), an independent company in China last year. This is because, due to the polarization of China's consumption patterns, the demand for large cars and luxury cars has increased.
This year, the company plans to relaunch the Genises brand in China and consolidate its high-end position by launching competitive new cars. The new electric vehicle "eG80" and the E-GMP-based electric vehicle "JW (project name)" will be released. Hyundai is reportedly preparing to partner with Chinese electric vehicle maker BYD. BYD and Hyundai Motor Company are working together to develop related products, with the goal of supplying battery products from next year. Hyundai Believes that by cooperating with BYD, maximizing synergies with local companies will go a long way toward restoring its former position.
For hyundai China, this isn't all bad news. Last year, Hyundai Motor Company proved its competitiveness in maintenance services in the Chinese market. In the "2020 Automotive Customer Satisfaction Survey (CACS)" published by the Volkswagen Association of China, Hyundai Ranks First in Satisfaction with Its Maintenance Services. It has ranked first in the category for seven consecutive years since 2014. In addition, in the customer satisfaction survey released by the China Public Promotion Association in August, it won the Excellent Maintenance Enterprise Award. The China Mass Association is an organization under the Chinese government that is responsible for quality-related assessment, consultation and certification, as well as customer satisfaction research and surveys.
Every year, the company conducts customer satisfaction surveys in various fields such as automobiles, steel, and machinery through customer visits and interviews. High service satisfaction is a measure of how much effort a company puts into after-sales customer satisfaction, not just selling vehicles. This is important because it has a decisive impact on brand image enhancement and buybacks, as well as on the increase in the value of used car sales.
While the established environment such as the causes of the pandemic, unfriendly exchange rates, and brand reputation in the Chinese market is not easy, it is important to find a breakthrough in customizing sales strategies in China and partnering with local brands.