(left) Hyundai Motor releases the new Genesis model at Auto China 2014. Kia Motors unveils the K4 concept car at Auto China 2014. (photo: Hyundai Motor Group)

Korean business leaders were given an opportunity to convey or express their pending business issues in China to Chinese President Xi Jinping, who attended the Korea-China Economic and Commerce Cooperation Forum at the Seoul Shilla Hotel on July 4 along with Korean President Park Geun-hye and other Korean and Chinese leaders. 

The forum served as an occasion for Hyundai Motor, Kumho Tire, and other Korean companies to convey their pending concerns related to their operations in China directly to the Chinese president.

Hyundai Motor Group’s request for “cooperation” in its plan to build Hyundai Motor’s fourth car assembly plant in Chongqing was made to President Xi during the forum, who gave no definite answer, Korean business and government sources said. 

Hyundai Motor has been pushing for the project in Chongqing, but it has failed to obtain the green light from China’s central government. 

Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Mong-koo signed an agreement to promote ways of cooperation in the automobile industry with Chongqing party chief Sun Zhengkai during their meeting on March 27. The project has yet to make headway since then. 

Hyundai Motor Group made inroads into the emerging Chinese automobile manufacturing market in the early 2000s. The group came up with strategies to strengthen its presence in the world’s largest automobile manufacturing market by building local assembly lines and releasing car models tailored to meet Chinese’ demands and tastes. 

Beijing Hyundai Motor became the first automobile company certified by China’s central government since its entry into the World Trade Organization. Established in 2002, Beijing Hyundai Motor is a 50:50 joint venture between Beijing Automotive Group and Hyundai Motor.

Beijing Hyundai Motor coined the term “Hyundai Speed,” as the company released the medium-sized sedan Sonata in December 2002, two months after the company was authorized to operate in China. 

Beijing Hyundai Motor became the first Chinese automaker to see its annual production surpass the 100,000-unit mark in April 2004. Seven months later, the company made another feat of breaking the 200,000-unit mark. The company sold 1,030,808 units in China last year to rank fourth among automakers in China. In the first five months of this year, the company racked up 466,302 units in cumulative sales, an 8.9 percent rise over the same period last year. 

Beijing Hyundai Motor has three plants with a combined capacity of 1.05 million units in Beijing. The company is trying to find a site for a fourth car assembly plant. 

Kia Motors, the first Korean automaker to enter China

Kia Motors began sharing its technologies with the Chinese Yueda Group in October 1996 to manufacture its Pride model. 

On top of its partnership with Yueda, Kia established a joint venture named Dongfeng Yueda Kia Motors with Dongfeng Automotive, one of China’s three top automakers, in 2002.

Yueda Kia Motors had to sell only hatch-back models due to the Chinese government’s restrictions, but Dongfeng Yueda Kia Motors is now allowed to sell all kinds of car models since its establishment. The joint venture released its first local Chinese model, the Qinanlima, in December 2002 at its first plant in Yancheng, Jiangsu Province. The company’s third plant, with an annual production capacity of 300,000 units, was dedicated early this year and has boosted to 740,000 units Kia Motor’s annual production capacity in China. 

Dongfeng Yueda Kia Motors sold 546,766 units, accounting for a 3.6 percent share of the Chinese market. The company sold 259,709 units in the first five months of the year, a 12.3 percent surge over the same period last year.