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standing at a new historical node, the chinese auto market in 2024 is destined to be an extraordinary year. on the one hand, independent brands are erecting high-rise buildings and building a new energy wall; on the other hand, joint venture brands are deeply involved in transformation and turmoil, and are experiencing anxiety and uneasiness.

compared with being able to operate with ease in the global market, in the involution of the chinese market, the life of joint venture brands will inevitably be dragged to the edge of the cliff. for example, hyundai group sold 615,900 vehicles globally in the first half of this year, maintaining its position in the top three in global sales. however, it has repeatedly failed in the chinese market.

recently, it was reported that beijing hyundai plans to optimize its personnel in two batches. among them, the first batch will end around november this year, and talks are currently underway to optimize the first batch of employees; the second batch may be completed before february next year, and the employees involved are expected to account for about 30% of the total number of beijing hyundai employees.

immediately, the official immediately stood up to refute the rumors and responded: "there is no talk of layoffs in batches. beijing hyundai is still introducing young talents." what is certain is that beijing hyundai, which has experienced successive sales of assets and rumors of layoffs, needs to re- thinking about how to regain the lost chinese market.

one step slow, each step slow?

to sum up, beijing hyundai entered the chinese market as a joint venture in october 2002. it has been 22 years since beijing hyundai entered the chinese market. it is considered one of the earlier batch of multinational car companies to enter china.

once upon a time, beijing hyundai also had a moment of glory in the domestic market. from 2013 to 2016, beijing hyundai's sales were 1.03 million vehicles, 1.16 million vehicles, 1.06 million vehicles and 1.14 million vehicles respectively, successfully joining the "million club" of domestic automobile manufacturers.

unfortunately, after reaching the peak of its "career" in 2016, it plummeted the next year, falling to 756,000 vehicles. although the number of vehicles recovered slightly in 2018 to 782,000, the road ahead continues to be bumpy. from 2018 to 2021, the cumulative sales were 685,000 vehicles, 502,000 vehicles, and 382,000 vehicles respectively.

entering 2022, beijing hyundai fell below the "300,000" mark, selling only 284,000 vehicles. by 2023, it sold 257,000 vehicles. judging from the data in the first half of 2024, beijing hyundai has sold a total of 123,000 vehicles, which is in huge contrast with its global sales.

the chain reaction caused by the halved sales volume spread to the entire terminal industry chain. in june last year, beijing hyundai put its chongqing factory up for sale, but had to reduce the price because no takers emerged. on january 17 this year, beijing hyundai resold this hot potato to chongqing liangjiang new district yufu industrial park construction investment co., ltd. for 1.62 billion yuan.

not only that, dealers also began to "force" beijing hyundai. in august this year, a document sent to beijing hyundai from a dealer in hunan province was circulated on the internet, clearly pointing out that it encountered problems such as inventory pressure, operating difficulties, and serious losses.

as a result, all dealers in hunan have unanimously requested that starting from august 8, 2024, they will temporarily stop delivering cars to beijing hyundai and no longer accept vehicles for automatic delivery. beijing hyundai will immediately resolve the existing inventory of dealers in hunan. and fulfill all previous commitments and reward policies.

from selling off factories, to forcing out dealers, to now being rumored to have large-scale layoffs, beijing hyundai is facing an unprecedented market test. on the one hand, the strong rise of independent brands with the help of the new energy industry has made beijing hyundai's situation in the sales market increasingly tense; on the other hand, the slow electrification transformation has also caused beijing hyundai to lose its first-mover advantage, and it is difficult for new cars to compete with a single audience. competitors compete.

as early as the 20th anniversary of beijing hyundai in 2022, beijing hyundai at that time put forward ambitious goals for electrification, including realizing full hybridization of fuel vehicles in 2025; accelerating the introduction of the world's best-selling hyundai pure electric brand, and launching an exclusive ev next year models; by 2025, all new products will be equipped with ota technology. but it wasn't until this year's beijing auto show that beijing hyundai launched its first electric car in the chinese market - ioniq 5 n.

you know, the current chinese car market is not what it used to be, and price-checking, brand-checking technology has long become the norm. when china's new energy vehicle market gradually evolves from an incremental market to a stock market, the cake is so big, leaving little room for beijing hyundai.

transformation is difficult, not transforming is even harder

standing at the crossroads of destiny, what beijing hyundai is currently experiencing is a microcosm of all joint venture brands in china: transformation is difficult, and failure to transform is even harder.

according to statistics from the china association of automobile manufacturers, the sales volume of chinese brand passenger cars in august this year reached 1.46 million units, a year-on-year increase of 13%, and the market share reached 66.9%, an increase of 10.1 percentage points from the same period last year; from january to august, the sales of chinese brand passenger cars cumulative sales were 10.213 million vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 20.4%, and the market share reached 53.2%, an increase of 9 percentage points.

in contrast, the cumulative sales and market share of joint venture brand passenger cars have declined to varying degrees. among them, the share of german brands dropped to 15.4%, the share of japanese brands dropped to 11.5%, the share of american brands dropped to 6.9%, and the share of korean brands was only 1.7%.

in addition to beijing hyundai, other joint venture brands have also conducted a new round of evaluation of the chinese market. for example, both nissan and honda began to reduce their production capacity in china this year, shut down factories and laid off large-scale layoffs; for another example, the volkswagen group not only closed two factories in its hometown in germany, but also was revealed by the media to plan to lay off hundreds of employees in china...

faced with the unfriendly domestic auto market environment, beijing hyundai is not indifferent. first, it provides users with the greatest benefits in terms of price. in early march this year, beijing hyundai’s popular model santana ushered in a new model - the eleventh generation santana, which directly "flipped the table" and raised the market guide price to 139,800 yuan - 18.68 yuan. million, stirring up the mid-size car market segment.

then in terms of product configuration, we try to resonate with current chinese consumers. at the chengdu auto show not long ago, beijing hyundai's booth c was allocated to the fifth-generation santa fe. this car was not only designed with the needs of the chinese market in mind, such as the "square box shape", but also was added to the configuration. including tencent, baidu and other local chinese suppliers.

talking about the slow electrification transformation issue that has been criticized by the outside world, beijing hyundai's permanent deputy general manager wu zhoutao once said in an interview with the media that "creation" and "persistence" go hand in hand, which will be the key to beijing hyundai's face of market changes and challenges. current strategies and principles. in other words, beijing hyundai has chosen a strategy of making progress while maintaining stability, sticking to the traditional fuel vehicle market while actively trying new energy transformation.

based on this, wu zhoutao proposed a trilogy of beijing hyundai's transformation: efforts in research and development to meet the personalized needs of chinese consumers; relying on hyundai's advantages, including automobile manufacturing, corporate management, technological innovation, brand operation, etc. accumulated over the years; following excellent local companies in china have increased cooperation in areas such as electrification, intelligence, and autonomous driving.

however, in the face of the rapid changes in the chinese market, beijing hyundai's future is still full of variables.