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

A few days ago. South Korea's Kia Motor Co., Ltd. officially released its 2023 results. During the reporting period, Kia Motor Company achieved operating income of 99.8 trillion won, an increase of 15.3% over the same period last year, and net profit of 8.78 trillion won, an increase of 62.3% over the same period last year, both reaching record highs. In terms of sales, Kia sold 3087384 vehicles worldwide in 2023, up 6.4 per cent from a year earlier.

It is worth mentioning that as a joint venture in China, Jiangsu Yueda Kia Automobile Co., Ltd. is still insolvent, with total assets of 2.08 trillion won and liabilities of 2.48 trillion won. According to this calculation, Jiangsu Yueda Kia's asset-liability ratio reached 119%. It is understood that since Dongfeng Automobile Group withdrew from the joint venture, the company has been in a state of insolvency.

Retail data show that Yueda Kia sold 83875 vehicles in 2023, down 11.40% from 94668 in 2022. This level of sales can not even be compared with the new forces of mainstream car-building in China. In order to reverse the disadvantage, Kia has to turn to the global market and sell models made in China overseas in order to achieve high year-on-year growth. The latest figures show that Yueda Kia sold 50038 vehicles in the first quarter of 2024, an increase of 76.9% over the same period last year, of which domestic sales were 18665, up 94.5% from the same period last year, accounting for only 37%. The remaining 63% were sold to foreign markets.

At the same time, in order to cope with the difficulties of sales in China, Kia also began to launch new energy vehicles. On April 5, Kia announced its medium-and long-term development strategy that it would expand the lineup of hybrid vehicles in the future. At the same time, Kia reiterated that the ultimate goal of the company's electrification strategy is electric vehicles, and aims to achieve global sales of 4.3 million vehicles (including 2.482 million new energy vehicles), 1.6 million electric vehicles and 250000 customized (PBV) electric vehicles by 2030.

Kia predicts that the growth of the electric vehicle market will continue to slow down by 2026, so it proposes countermeasures such as the expansion of hybrid models and the introduction of mid-range electric vehicles. Specifically, Kia will increase its hybrid models to six this year, eight in 2026 and nine in 2028, with sales rising from 307000 in 2024 to 602000 in 2027 and 1.6 million by 2030.

At the same time, Kia will launch mid-range electric vehicles, aiming to gradually increase sales from 307000 in 2024 to 1.147 million in 2027 and to 1.6 million by 2030. This means that the company will strive to double the sales of electric vehicles by 2027 and continue to promote the electrification strategy dominated by electric vehicles. In addition, Kia will increase production at its factories in China in a bid to increase sales to emerging economies from 80, 000 in 2023 to 250000 in 2027.

According to the plan, 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. A total of six EV models will be launched by 2027 and 180000 EV models will be sold annually by 2030. In 2024, Kia will bring its flagship all-electric SUV-EV9. What's interesting about this car is its rear row, which has a 2-degree and 2-degree layout, and the second row of seats can rotate 90 and 180 degrees, creating an interactive space inside the car. In 2025-2027, Kia will also introduce an entry-level all-electric SUV, a high-end electric car and a medium-sized all-electric SUV.

Judging from a series of performances, 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 disciplined 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.

Although sales in China are not satisfactory, Hyundai Motor Group still sold 7.3 million vehicles in the global market, of which Hyundai sold about 4.22 million and Kia sold about 3.08 million, ranking third in the world. Hyundai Motor Group attributed the sales bottleneck in the Chinese market to the three-year epidemic because it was unable to better understand the needs of the Chinese market.

Compared with some moribund brands, Korean cars still have a certain market foundation, including the supply strength of overseas groups, and there is still a chance to turn around. From the current market changes, Korean brands have gone out of two routes, on the one hand, Hyundai, Kia brand to high-end transformation, like Chinese brands, greatly improve the products, and targeted in the blank market. This is also accompanied by the elimination of old low-end models, and efforts to improve the brand image. On the other hand is the transformation of new energy, including power-generating electric vehicles and hydrogen-fueled vehicles. As the third largest automobile group in the world, with strong technical reserves and financial resources, it can quickly respond to market changes. Although Chinese brands have stood in the center of the new energy competition, the global market is the final journey.

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