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Genesis announced on July 31 that Zhu Jiang will serve as the CEO of Genesis Automotive Sales (Shanghai) Co., Ltd., and the position will officially take effect on August 5, 2024. After taking office, Zhu Jiang will be committed to promoting Genesis' business expansion and progress in the Chinese market.

Remember three years ago, Genesis announced its return to the Chinese market by importing cars by using 3,281 drones to form the words "Hello, China" on the Bund in Shanghai, breaking the Guinness World Record. In fact, this is the third time the brand has come to the Chinese market. As early as 2008 and 2014, Genesis entered China as "Laoens" and "Genesis" respectively, but had to withdraw due to poor sales. However, Genesis did not give up and made a comeback this time by importing cars, hoping to gain a place in the fiercely competitive Chinese market.

At that time, Genesis CEO He Ruisi clearly pointed out that the first task for a brand to enter the Chinese market is to build a brand image and determine market positioning. In many public interviews, he repeatedly emphasized that the key indicators to measure the effectiveness of his work are the results of brand building and the brand's popularity in the market.

However, these expectations of He Ruisi were not realized as expected in the following period. According to the data of the sales terminal, the sales volume of Genesis in the Chinese market in 2023 was only 1,558 units, and the sales volume in 2022 was only 1,457 units, which was far from the performance results expected by He Ruisi.

So far, Genesis has launched the G70, GV70, G80,GV80and GV60. Despite the rich choice of models, Genesis still faces challenges in its development in the domestic market. On the one hand, due to its relatively low brand awareness, its brand appeal and cost-effectiveness do not have an advantage in the competition. On the other hand, Korean cars, especially the Hyundai brand, are not well recognized in the Chinese market, and their market share is also declining rapidly. Statistics show that from 2019 to 2021, the share of Korean cars in the Chinese market fell from 4.7% to 2.4%, and by 2023, this proportion will further drop to 1.5%.

The sales data has never improved, which also led to He Ruisi's resignation in October 2023. The position was then taken over by Genesis Chief Coordinator Li Zhe.

At the Genesis China General Assembly held in October 2023, then Chief Coordinator Li Zhe announced that in less than 10 months, Genesis' losses in China had reached 1.2 billion yuan. More worryingly, in the three years since entering the Chinese market, Genesis's cumulative losses have reached 3 billion yuan.

For Genesis, a leader who is good at brand operation is the most urgent need. It is based on this consideration that Genesis chose Zhu Jiang, a talent with rich experience in operating new brands, to serve as the new CEO of Genesis in the Chinese market.

Song Min-kyu, the global head of Genesis, is clearly full of confidence in Zhu Jiang's joining. He emphasized Zhu Jiang's deep management background in internationally renowned automobile brands and China's electric vehicle industry, and firmly believed that Zhu Jiang's joining will provide strong leadership for Genesis' continued development and business expansion in the Chinese market.

Zhu Jiang has more than 20 years of experience in the automotive industry and has served in senior management positions in many well-known automotive companies, includingNIO、BMW、MINI、LexusandFordBefore joining Genesis, Zhu Jiang was appointed as the first managing director of Lucid, an American electric car manufacturer, in China in September 2022, responsible for business development in the Chinese market.

Zhu Jiang's achievements in the automotive industry are definitely outstanding, especially in brand building and marketing strategy. In 2003, Zhu Jiang joined BMW Brilliance to work in marketing activities and served asBMW MINIBrand Management Director, and later promoted to Vice President of MINI China Brand Management, successfully made MINI a representative of high-end personalized small cars. In 2013, Zhu Jiang left BMW and moved to Lexus. In 2017, Zhu Jiang joined NIO as Vice President of User Development, and was also known as "one of the builders of NIO's marketing system and brand discourse." In addition, Zhu Jiang also served as Vice President of Jidu Auto, responsible for user development and operations.

According to Genesis's previous goal, all its models on sale will be pure electric by 2025. But the reality is a bit bleak. The time for full electrification is far from here. Sticking to the original plan will only drag itself into the quagmire. So Genesis began to think about turning to the hybrid market.

Earlier, Genesis President Mike Song said in an interview that Genesis plans to invest in launching more hybrid models next year, rather than focusing entirely on pure electric vehicles. But as of now, Genesis's product matrix is ​​mainly gasoline and pure electric products, and there are no hybrid models on sale. If Genesis wants to launch hybrid models as soon as possible, it must obtain hybrid technology from Hyundai Motor Group.

Genesis faces fierce competition and huge challenges in China, the world's largest new energy vehicle market. Today, China's hybrid vehicle market is experiencing rapid growth. In the first half of this year alone, hybrid vehicle sales increased by 85.2% year-on-year, far exceeding the 11.6% growth rate of pure electric vehicles. This trend should have provided a favorable development environment for Genesis. However, due to some shortcomings of the brand itself, such as low brand awareness and market acceptance, Genesis' development in the Chinese market has been limited to a certain extent.

Especially for Genesis, which has been an independent brand for less than 20 years, its brand awareness and premium ability in the Chinese market are relatively weak. Even though the brand has launched models such as G70 and GV80, its market response has not met expectations so far, and its performance has been mediocre, failing to stir up much market waves.

Facing the current market environment, Genesis will undoubtedly face many difficulties if it wants to make a breakthrough in the Chinese market by sticking to the import model. In order to better integrate into China's new energy vehicle market, Genesis needs to make more in-depth changes.

Uncle Che’s summary

As a luxury brand of Hyundai Motor Group, Genesis has tried to enter the Chinese market three times, but each time its performance has failed to meet expectations. In the current increasingly competitive luxury car market, as a relatively niche imported brand, Genesis faces even more severe challenges. For the newly appointed Zhu Jiang, his new brand strategy is crucial to whether Genesis can continue to gain a foothold in the Chinese market. However, judging from the current status of Genesis and future product planning, Zhu Jiang is under tremendous pressure. Perhaps Zhu Jiang's arrival will help Genesis improve, but it is not easy to move to the next level.