AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)04/06 Report--

Dongfeng Yueda Kia, whose brands and products are more and more divorced from the mainstream market, released a first-quarter sales report. Data show that Dongfeng Yueda Kia sold 30805 vehicles in March, with cumulative sales reaching 85329 from January to March, up 0.8 per cent from a year earlier.

Among them, Zhirun sold 14000 vehicles in March, accounting for almost half of the total sales, which means that sales of the remaining 14 models are not excellent.

Dongfeng Yueda Kia updated its two SUV models in the first quarter of this year, including Zhirun's 1.4T model with a price range of 13.79 yuan to 144900 yuan, and another compact SUV KX5 model with a price range of 15.48 yuan to 181800 yuan, powered by 1.6T and 2.0L engines.

Compared with the glorious peak of sales a few years ago, Kia has been almost in decline in the past two years. Kia's sales in China peaked at 650000 in 2016 and began to fall back in 2017, with annual sales of less than 360000 vehicles, down 45 per cent from a year earlier. After adjustment, Kia sold 370000 vehicles in 2018, roughly the same as in 2017. Given that the Chinese market is in an environment of declining sales, it will be difficult for Kia to preserve sales this year.

Kia is considering closing its first factory in China, suspending production of models such as the KX7, or converting the plant to electric cars because of overcapacity, but Kia has yet to make a final decision.

In the early years, Korean brands gained a foothold in the Chinese market with the advantages of appearance design and performance-to-price ratio. Hyundai Motor sold more than one million vehicles in China for three consecutive years, and Kia also rose to the height of 650000 vehicles. however, changes in the market eventually led to a moderate advantage of Korean cars, brand strength also lagged behind the mainstream joint ventures, products sandwiched in independent models and joint venture models to survive, sales suffered a sharp decline. Gone are the days when joint venture brands lay to make money, and joint venture brands such as Dragon Motor, Ford, Kia and other joint ventures are struggling.

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