AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)05/11 Report--

On May 10, Yueda Kia issued a statement in response to reports of management rotation and team contraction.

A few days ago, Jiangsu Yueda Kia Co., Ltd. recently issued an internal notice: in order to realize the electrified transformation, the business staff structure needs to be integrated, and the company arranges the management staff to take a batch off. The first batch of rest time is from June 1, 2023 to May 31, 2024. The salary and benefits during the suspension period shall be paid according to the normal salary of the individual in the first month, and shall be carried out in accordance with the local minimum wage from the second month. During this period, we will not enjoy the company's welfare, salary adjustment, incentive fund and other policies, and suspend the employee card (meal subsidy). At the same time, Yueda Kia will pay the social security provident fund in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations.

In this regard, Yueda Kia said that the internal personnel change is a normal adjustment in order to adapt to the new electric era, take the initiative to innovate and change, and accelerate the transformation to an electric brand. At the same time, the company is also expanding the recruitment of professional local elites to stimulate organizational vitality and achieve the healthy development of the company.

Strategic transformation, a great change of personnel, but this is regarded by many employees as "disguised layoffs." It is understood that the management staff of Yueda Kia involve Yancheng and Shanghai, where the minimum wage is 2070 yuan / month and 2590 yuan / month respectively, while the management post has a maximum of one year's rest. In addition to paying individual normal wages in the first month, the second month begins to be paid in accordance with the local minimum wage, and all kinds of benefits and bonuses during the rotation are also suspended, which will inevitably lead to some people being forced to survive. Eventually apply for resignation voluntarily, so that you can avoid the financial compensation associated with layoffs and streamline personnel at the lowest cost.

On March 20, Song Hujing, global president of Kia, announced at the new energy strategy conference that Kia China has officially entered the electrified era, starting a comprehensive electrified transformation and a gradual transition from the fuel vehicle market to the new energy market. At the conference, Kia will unveil China's medium-and long-term new energy strategy and unveil three new electric models, the EV5 concept car, the EV9 concept car and the EV6 GT, of which the EV5 will be launched in November, which will be Kia's first global model produced in China and debuted.

According to the plan, from 2023, Kia will launch at least one pure electric vehicle every year based on the electrified global modular platform E-GMP; by 2027, it will launch a total of six EV models; and by 2030, it will achieve the annual sales target of 180000 EV models, accounting for 40% of the total.

When I opened the Kia Automobile website, I found that the only pure electric car currently on sale is the K3 EV, which went on sale in November 2020 at a subsidised price of 196800 yuan and 206800 yuan respectively, but there is almost no sense of existence in the domestic market and no relevant sales data are available.

Yang Honghai, COO of Kia China, said at the recent Shanghai auto show that although Kia has encountered challenges in its development in China in the past few years, Kia's determination to dig deep into the Chinese market will not waver. At present, Kia is indeed pooling global resources to increase investment in the Chinese market, but according to the current development situation of the domestic market, Kia, which survives in the gap, has great challenges.

After the renaming of Jiangsu Yueda Kia, the wholesale sales of Jiangsu Yueda Kia in 2022 were 129897 vehicles, down 20.35% from the same period last year. In addition, according to South Korea's Kia Automobile Annual report on sale, Yueda Kia posted an annual net loss of 2.4768 trillion won (about 13 billion yuan) in 2022, with an asset-liability ratio of 119.0%, which has been seriously insolvent.

Yueda Kia is just a microcosm of the survival of second-and third-tier joint venture brands. In addition to Yueda Kia, including Guangzhou Auto Fick, which is delisting, and GAC-Mitsubishi, which has just been erased by GAC GROUP, although Mitsubishi Automobile President stressed that it is determined not to withdraw from the Chinese market, it may only be a matter of time before GAC-Mitsubishi goes to the end in the context of continuously expanding losses. For the joint venture car companies, which do not have a strong sense of existence, although they are reluctant to leave China, the largest automobile market, the actual situation is not optimistic.

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