Why do Korean cars that perform very well globally feel bad in China?

Let’s talk about the advantages of Korean cars

Since Korean cars entered the domestic market, they have relied on their high appearance, stable quality, good space, and low cost. The selling price once flourished and achieved very good sales. For example, its domestic sales have now surpassed those of two Hondas. The exterior design of Korean cars is very beautiful, like the Kia K3. At that time, Kia hired Audi's chief designer Peter Hillier. Kia's cars are basically good-looking, and the K5 is also very beautiful. As for the current Lingdong, Langdong and other models, the fluid sculpture shape is really much better looking than the ninth-generation Civic and Corolla of the same period.

In terms of quality, Hyundai and Kia, as multinational car companies, also have relatively rich quality management experience, so the comparison is good. Korean cars are more like Japanese cars with better looks and lower prices, but their brand power is not as strong as Toyota, Honda and Nissan, which are Japanese cars.

The turning point of Korean cars

After the Diaoyu Islands incident in 2012, the domestic market share of Japanese cars continued to decline. Taking this opportunity, German and Korean cars quickly occupied the Japanese car market. With the THAAD incident in 2015, Korean cars also encountered a crisis. Hyundai and Kia turned from their previous rapid growth into a situation of constant decline. I think the external political environment is a secondary reason, and the internal reason is more of a change in the market environment.

Korean cars have always been in the zone between Japanese cars and independent brands. As a substitute for Japanese cars, they have better looks and lower prices than Japanese cars, although they may not necessarily have better technology. It is not necessarily more advanced, but compared to independent brands, it obviously has more reliable appearance and more stable quality. In addition, it is a joint venture brand, which will also have a certain appeal to consumers. However, since 2016, the Japanese have begun to counterattack. Honda and Toyota have launched Civic, Accord, Camry, CR-V and other models. The introduction of a large number of new models and new technologies, as well as lower prices, has compressed the Korean brands downwards. At the same time, independent brands represented by Geely and Great Wall continue to make gains, and the product capabilities of new cars continue to improve, which further shrinks the space for Korean cars and faces greater challenges.

We all know that Toyota is good at marketing and has always attached great importance to the spread of word-of-mouth. However, Hyundai and Kia, Korean cars, are relatively silent. However, when sales are good, consumers will say that the model brand is good. , once there is a significant decline in sales, the market begins to experience a lot of negatives. The bad performance of Korean cars has nothing to do with its declining sales in the domestic market in recent years.