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financial associated press, september 28 (reporter liu yang)after entering 2024, joint venture car companies will face unprecedented pressure in all dimensions, from sales to operating costs. "beijing hyundaithe first (optimizing staff) conversations are currently underway. "on september 28, a person familiar with the matter told reporters that this personnel optimization plan will be divided into two batches. the first batch will be completed around november this year, and the second batch will be completed before february next year, involving employees. accounting for approximately 30% of beijing hyundai's total employees.

as of press time, beijing hyundai has not responded positively to this; hyundai china said, "i have not heard of it."

"the group will close another factory in china and sell two factories in china." in june last year, zhang zaixun, a foreign shareholder of beijing hyundai and ceo of hyundai motor group, revealed at an investor relations event in seoul, south korea, that in recent years , china's business has become difficult due to various negative factors at home and abroad. the company will reduce the number of hyundai products in china from the current 13 to 8, and focus on suvs and luxury brand genesis.

regarding the predicament, beijing hyundai's permanent deputy general manager wu zhoutao once said frankly that beijing hyundai's sales have gradually declined since 2017. the real reason is that beijing hyundai has been excessively pursuing sales in the past and has not improved the competitiveness of its products and has not improved its products. to truly build a brand, it is inevitable that the company's sales will decline when the market changes. at the same time, wu zhoutao also gave two strategic directions for beijing hyundai to break through: export and transformation.

now it seems that beijing hyundai has not achieved a breakthrough. on august 8, a letter jointly sent by nine car dealers in hunan province to beijing hyundai was widely circulated on the internet. the letter stated that in view of factors such as the extreme inventory pressure of all dealers in hunan province, very difficult operations, and very serious losses, all dealers in hunan unanimously requested to temporarily stop delivering cars to beijing hyundai starting from august 8, 2024, and autonomous delivery vehicles are no longer accepted. at that time, a beijing hyundai dealer in hunan said, "this letter is authentic. the nine dealers who sent the joint letter account for the majority in hunan province."

since 2024, joint venture brands have generally faced "production cuts" and "layoffs." entering september,dongfeng hondalarge-scale layoffs with voluntary resignation as the core method have been launched, and the number of employees affected by the planned layoffs will reach 2,000. on september 23, people familiar with the matter revealed that volkswagen group will lay off hundreds of local employees in china in stages, and high-end brandsaudia layoff plan will also be launched. in this regard,volkswagen chinathe response stated that volkswagen group (china) is continuing to improve the efficiency of various departments and projects and optimize costs. "based on the actual situation, relevant measures also involve direct labor costs and indirect labor costs including administrative expenses, travel expenses and training costs."

in mid-august, there was news that general motors was laying off personnel in departments related to the chinese market, including the r&d department. in this regard, gm china only stated that "our partnership with saic and our commitment to promote the long-term development of the joint venture have not changed"; in june,dongfeng nissanannounced the closure of the factory in changzhou, jiangsu province, which is also the first time nissan has closed a passenger car factory in china; in may, a branch of faw-volkswagen started personnel optimization and adjustments, and the branch will not renew some employees whose first labor contracts have expired. about.

according to data from the passenger car association, mainstream joint venture brands sold 480,000 vehicles in august, a year-on-year decrease of 27% and a month-on-month increase of 7%. among them, the retail sales share of japanese brands was 12.6%, down 4.2 percentage points year-on-year; german brands and american brands dropped 3.5 percentage points and 2.9 percentage points respectively. in contrast, independent brands have become more and more courageous, with sales of 1.2 million vehicles in august, a year-on-year increase of 21% and a month-on-month increase of 14%.

it is worth noting that on september 8, the national development and reform commission and the ministry of commerce issued the "special management measures for foreign investment access (negative list) (2024 edition)". starting from november 1 this year, foreign investment access restrictions in the manufacturing sector will be restricted. achieve "clearing".

"this means that joint ventures that once conquered the chinese market have to seriously face a new cycle." industry insiders believe that in two or three years, how much of the joint venture market share will continue to exist in china's automobile industry depends on whether foreign investment is what kind of attitude should we take to face the challenges of the chinese market? "the chinese market is certainly important, but when profit margins are severely squeezed and there is little room for rebound in the short term, they must make a new choice."