South Korean automaker Hyundai has fallen on tough times in China. It’s in the news now because its factories in China ceased production for a week because of a payment dispute with a supplier. That dispute has been successfully negotiated down, the Financial Times reports (paywall), and production has resumed — but its problems run much, much deeper.
- Hyundai posted its smallest quarterly profit in five years recently, Reuters notes.
- The small profits were partially the result of an ongoing, unofficial Chinese boycott of South Korean goods. China-South Korea relations have been especially tense in the past year, as China’s small northeastern neighbor announced it would host a U.S. missile defense system — but tensions between the two countries go far beyond that.
- Hyundai itself also faces a branding problem in China. An analyst quoted in the Wall Street Journal says (paywall) that the company never resolved its “fundamental issue with product positioning and brand equity,” and an analyst in the Financial Times report cited above noted that Hyundai’s “cars continue to lose their appeal to Chinese consumers as local Chinese rivals catch up fast.”
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Electric and self-driving vehicles
China likely to unveil NEV car quotas soon, but delay implementation: sources / Reuters
Baidu steers into self-driving car venture with partner / Caixin -
Energy and environment
China’s war on smog shakes up ports; Tianjin loses, rivals benefit / Reuters
China Three Gorges unit seeking $1.5 billion from new investors: sources / Reuters
China wants to wring the swing out of coal prices / Caixin
Energy hogs: China targets farm waste as a ‘clean’ power source / Reuters -
U.S.-China relations
Lattice weighs seeking Trump’s intervention on China deal / Bloomberg
Opinion: One chip deal could define Trump’s China policy / Bloomberg
Sinopec probed by the U.S. over Nigeria payments / Bloomberg
China regulator to review Apple antitrust complaint / Bloomberg -
Internet companies
China’s content war heats up: Toutiao poaches talent from Zhihu / TechNode
China tech IPOs surge in first half / Caixin
Questions over pace of growth as WeChat nears 1bn users / FT (paywall)
