AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)07/08 Report--

On July 6th, Kia official WeChat announced first-half global sales. According to the data, the total global sales in Asia from January to June 2023 was 1575920, a record high for the first half of the year, an increase of 11.0% over the same period last year. Among them, sales in overseas markets reached 1281067, up 10.8% from the same period last year; and sales in South Korea were 292103, up 11.5% from the same period last year.

Kia did not disclose the sales volume of the market segment, and now Kia's performance in China is completely different from that in the global market.

In the Chinese market, Kia's joint venture Yueda Kia has long been insolvent, with an asset-liability ratio of 127.1% in the first quarter. In terms of sales, Yueda Kia sold 33406 vehicles in the first quarter, down 19.08 per cent from 41283 in the same period.

Looking at the global market, few multinational car companies can still succeed after losing the Chinese market. In 2022, Hyundai Kia Group's total global sales of 6.8482 million vehicles, second only to Toyota, Volkswagen, ranking third in the world. Of these, Hyundai sold 3.9446 million vehicles, up 1.4% from the same period last year, while Kia sold 2.9036 million vehicles, up 4.6% from the same period last year.

To put it another way, even though Kia's share of the Chinese market continues to decline, its global market performance has improved by leaps and bounds. Perhaps, whether there is a Chinese market or not does not seem to be so important to Hyundai Kia.

Of course, Hyundai Kia is also well aware that the future automobile development center must be in China. If we want to ensure our position in the global market, we must continue to deepen China's layout and seek further development. At the Kia China New Energy Strategy Conference held not long ago, Kia Global CEO Song Tiger personally stressed that success in the Chinese market is the core element of Kia's global strategy, which makes clear Kia's determination to unswervingly cultivate the Chinese market.

According to the plan, this year will be the first year for Yueda Kia to enter China's electric car market. Starting from 2023, Yueda Kia will launch at least one pure electric vehicle in the Chinese market each year based on the electrified global modular platform E-GMP. By 2027, it will launch a total of six EV models. By 2030, it is expected to achieve annual sales of 450000 units, of which the EV model accounts for 40% of the annual sales of 180000 vehicles.

The EV6, the first electric car based on the Kia E-GMP platform, will be sold in China in August in the form of imports. It is worth mentioning that globally, EV6 has successively won the "2022 European car of the year" award, the "2023 North American car of the year" award and the "2023 World performance car" award, demonstrating Kia's unparalleled power in electric technology.

In November, Yueda Kia will launch a medium-sized pure electric SUV EV5. The EV5 is the first global model produced in China and debuted by Kia, which is of great significance; in addition, Yueda Kia plans to launch its flagship electric SUV-EV9; in 2024, followed by an entry-level all-electric SUV, a high-end electric sedan and a medium-sized all-electric SUV from 2025 to 2027, bringing more yuan and superior products to Chinese consumers.

Earlier, Kia China officially announced that it would accelerate its transition to motorization and unveiled three new electric models, the EV5 concept car, the EV9 concept car and the EV6GT, of which the EV5 will be launched in November, which will be Kia's first global model produced in China and debuted.

It is not difficult to see that Kia will not only continue to focus on the Chinese market, but will also quickly launch the layout of the new energy sector, but Kia is more conformist than the all-out efforts of its own brands. This is also close to the route of many other joint venture brands in China New Energy, which is not rash but will not stop completely.

Take Kia EV5 as an example, although the current price is unknown, as a joint venture pure electric SUV, its price is not expected to be very low, while the current sales of pure electric vehicles launched by brands such as Toyota, Honda and Nissan in China are very mediocre. On the one hand, Korean brands need to compete with German and Japanese brands, while facing the suppression of independent brands, the pressure is not generally small.

In fact, the problems and challenges encountered by Korean cars in the Chinese market are "not built in a day". These problems are not simple products, technology, pricing, etc., and do not want to make progress in all aspects of decision-making. Of course, this may not all be the reason for Korean brands, because life for German and Japanese brands in the Chinese market is becoming more and more difficult, especially for Japanese brands, which all declined in the first half of 2023, such as Toyota, Honda, Nissan and Mazda.

China's new energy market has completely subverted the situation in which joint venture brands played a leading role in the fuel car era in the past, and independent brands, dominated by BYD and the new car-building forces, have become the biggest stars in China's automobile market. Although not willing to lag behind the joint venture brand has also made a counterattack, but the effect is mediocre, even if it is a bloody price reduction, it is still difficult to capture the hearts of Chinese consumers. At present, Kia will go all out to promote the comprehensive landing of the new energy strategy and provide Chinese consumers with a higher quality mobile travel service experience by introducing more world-leading electrified technologies and products. but it remains to be seen whether it can take off again in the Chinese market.

Welcome to subscribe to the WeChat public account "Automotive Industry Focus" to get the first-hand insider information on the automotive industry and talk about things in the automotive circle. Welcome to break the news! WeChat ID autoWechat