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According to the latest South Korean media reports, Kia Motor Co., Ltd. today released its latest performance report for the first quarter of 2020. Data show that the group's sales in the first quarter of 2020 were 14.5669 trillion won (83.5 billion yuan), up 17.1 percent from the previous year's 12.4444 trillion won (71.3 billion yuan).

Nevertheless, the group's operating profit fell 25.2 per cent in the first quarter from a year earlier to 444.5 billion won, while net profit for the current period fell 59 per cent to 266 billion won. However, operating margins were 3.1 per cent, down only 1.7 per cent from a year earlier. In this regard, Kia said that the impact of the current epidemic in the first quarter on the group is not obvious, coupled with the strong won environment, as well as rising sales in some areas and other factors have helped the group to resist a certain decline.

In terms of Kia's global sales in the first quarter, Kia's global sales fell by only 0.9 per cent to 644000 vehicles from January to March, of which overseas wholesale sales were 527400, a slight decline of 1.3 per cent compared with the same period last year, while the domestic market grew 1.1 per cent to 117000 vehicles. In fact, in addition to the growth in South Korea's home market, Kia's sales in North America also grew by 8.9%, while the rest of the overseas markets declined to varying degrees. Among them, the European market fell 10.1%, the Latin American market fell 2.4%, and China suffered the worst decline, reaching 60.7%.

Obviously, Kia, which was once dominated by the Chinese market, has further reduced its market share after a sharp decline in recent years, and in early 2020, when the epidemic first began in China, it did not have a big impact, because according to the group's sales in China in the first quarter, it was only about 40,000 vehicles, accounting for 6% of the group's total sales. Kia, on the other hand, sold 138000 vehicles in the US in the first quarter, which is also higher than its home market, making it one of its largest single market, helping Kia offset declines elsewhere.

According to the Kia Group, the two growing regions are mainly due to the popularity of new cars, with sales in South Korea driven by the launch of the new K5 and Seltos. And the American market, because of the SUV model Telluride glory "2020 North American car of the year", sales are hot.

Globally, the best-selling models of Kia in March are all SUV models, of which Lion SUV sold 29000 vehicles worldwide in March, followed by 27800 Aorun and 21000 K3. Second, the launch of the new K5 also helped Kia achieve its best sales in South Korea in 23 months, selling more than 50,000 units a month for the first time.

But at the same time, the head of Kia also said that Kia Group had suspended production and sales in major regions at the end of March, so it is expected to run into operational difficulties in the second quarter of this year. After all, the latest outbreak began in China, and then spread to Europe, and finally to the Americas and other places, so with the shutdown of production in most parts of the world except China, enterprises must have suffered a heavy setback in the second quarter.

Although Kia has basically returned to normal in the Chinese regional market, according to the sales data released by Dongfeng Yueda Kia, a total of 43152 units were sold in the first quarter, down 48.3% from the same period last year, which is still higher than the performance of domestic passenger cars in the first quarter. Although Dongfeng Yueda Kia's sales fell 22% year-on-year to 289000 vehicles in 2019, despite the impact of the COVID-19 epidemic, it is worth mentioning that with the expansion of terminal offers for Kia SUV models, it has helped to increase the sales share of Kia K3, Kia KX3 Pride, Kia Smart run, Kia KX5 and other top selling models worth more than 100000 yuan to 74% from 53% in the same period last year. As for the new K5 Kaiku, which will not go on sale until September this year, it may not be much of a boost to the second quarter.

In any case, the days of joint venture brands "lying down" to make money in the domestic market are over. Now, in the face of the rise of domestic products and the marginalization of the market, what Kia needs more is to add brand characteristics while putting together products and services. Leave a deep impression on users, if you want to maintain higher profits, you need to consider more "differentiation" competition.

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