【Text/In-Depth Car Review & Finance Three Musketeers】 In the fiercely competitive automotive market of the first half of 2026, the segment for joint-venture home-use vehicles priced between 100,000 and 200,000 RMB is abuzz with activity. Competitors are vying for the spotlight, continuously sparking trending discussions. However, Beijing Hyundai, once a stalwart in the upper echelons of joint ventures, is gradually fading into the background amidst this intense competition, with its market presence becoming increasingly difficult to notice.

Nowadays, it's a rare sight to see Beijing Hyundai conducting brand promotion activities in offline shopping mall showrooms. Similarly, there is a noticeable scarcity of consistent marketing content for its models on short-video platforms. Apart from a brief surge of attention during the few days when the Ioniq brand made its debut at the Beijing Auto Show in April, Beijing Hyundai seems to have largely disappeared from the public eye for the most part.

The lack of market buzz doesn't imply a lack of internal activity. At the end of 2025, Li Fenggang officially assumed control of Beijing Hyundai's operations, and the outside world pinned high hopes on him, anticipating that this leadership change would usher in new opportunities for the company. Over the past six months, the management has rolled out numerous plans in areas such as distribution channels, exports, and electrification strategies. However, most of these initiatives are focused on internal adjustments and lack external communication strategies that can effectively reach and engage user circles. As a result, ordinary consumers find it difficult to perceive Beijing Hyundai's positive transformations.

The sluggishness of the terminal market is directly mirrored in Beijing Hyundai's sales performance. In the first half of this year, Beijing Hyundai sold a total of 94,697 vehicles, with 17,388 units sold in June alone. Compared to the same period last year, the performance appears somewhat lackluster. Numbers, being inherently indifferent, do not account for sentimentality or excuses. Supported by configuration adjustments and price incentives, the Tucson L has maintained a year-on-year growth rate of over 30%. The Custo has also demonstrated stable growth in the home-use MPV segment. However, the Elantra and Sonata, which once significantly contributed to the brand's sales, have now exhausted their growth momentum. Although they still maintain a certain base sales volume, they can no longer drive overall market enthusiasm for the brand.

To revitalize idle production capacity, Beijing Hyundai has significantly shifted its factory production focus towards exports. In May, export data witnessed a substantial increase, with a year-on-year growth rate exceeding 60%. This globalization strategy has, to a certain extent, alleviated the pressure from the shrinking domestic retail market. However, it has also led to a decrease in the priority given to domestic market resources, further impacting the brand's performance in the domestic arena.

In the new energy sector, Beijing Hyundai has also taken some steps. At the April Auto Show, it unveiled the independent pure electric brand Ioniq, with the global debut of its first coupe model, which briefly sparked industry discussions. However, after the show, related promotional activities quickly cooled down. The new energy segment remains stuck in the brand preheating stage and cannot serve as a new fulcrum to drive brand enthusiasm.

In contrast, domestic automakers have launched multiple affordable pure electric new models in the first half of the year and have been continuously capturing user attention through test drives, in-store experiences, and online live streams. Meanwhile, Beijing Hyundai's Ioniq has only been showcased through static display vehicles, lacking supporting offline experience stores. The hype surrounding the new model quickly faded, and it gradually fell behind in the competitive new energy market.

After assuming office, Li Fenggang made channel restructuring one of his core tasks. Previously, dealers had long grappled with issues such as cross-regional price chaos and inventory imbalances, leading to continuously declining profits for terminal stores. Many stores reduced their promotional budgets and even cut back on outdoor showroom displays to lower costs. After the implementation of unified sales policies, the intense internal competition among dealers eased somewhat, and the inventory levels of two main models returned to healthy levels.

However, the repairs at the channel level are merely limited to internal order regulation, lacking synchronized long-term marketing plans for consumers. The construction of new energy exclusive stores is still in the pilot phase, and the expansion plan for outlets in lower-tier markets has not yet been substantially rolled out. Most dealers are unable to actively invest in market promotion and rely solely on the manufacturer's unified subsidy policies to passively wait for customer footfall. This results in a simultaneous loss of voice both online and offline, further deepening consumers' impression that the 'brand is fading from the market.'

Beijing Hyundai has long relied solely on price concessions to drive sales, with incentives such as full exemption from purchase taxes, high fuel subsidies, and lifetime basic maintenance running through the first half of the year. However, competitors generally adopt a combined strategy of 'subsidies + scenario-based benefits + user systems' to form differentiated competition. Beijing Hyundai merely remains at the level of straightforward price reductions, making it difficult to establish user memory points in the long run. After all, everyone can offer discounts; the key lies in who offers more.

Li Fenggang, with a background in luxury brands, excels in refined user operations and brand value shaping. However, at present, Beijing Hyundai's foundation lies in affordable home-use fuel vehicles, with no high-end products to support the brand's upward trajectory. Coupled with the terminal's focus on short-term sales volume and inventory reduction as core performance indicators, refined value marketing lacks a fertile ground for implementation, ultimately trapping the brand in the quagmire of industry-wide homogeneous price wars.

The homogeneous internal competition and marketing weakness at the terminal level are superficially issues of channel and operational strategies but are deeply constrained by the division of powers and responsibilities under the joint venture structure. Although Li Fenggang can independently adjust domestic marketing and channel details, the decision-making power over model platforms, three-electric technology supply, and the rhythm of medium- and long-term product launches rests with the Korean headquarters.

The local team has repeatedly proposed optimizing intelligent cockpits and adjusting pure electric model configurations for the Chinese market, but resource allocation priorities have consistently leaned towards overseas markets. Even after the management completed its localization replacement, the core product definition authority was not simultaneously delegated. Attempts to create models that align with domestic user needs and generate buzz are constantly restricted, making the development path arduous.

Despite the clear adjustment trajectory of Beijing Hyundai over the past six months—streamlining the dealer system, amplifying export business, launching a pure electric brand, and investing in new energy production capacity transformation—each step aims to address past market ills. However, from the perspective of ordinary car-buying users, these internal changes are completely imperceptible. With no continuously updated fuel vehicle models, no test-driveable pure electric new models, and no regular online and offline market presence, a disconnect has formed between internal actions and market silence.

Nevertheless, the upcoming Ioniq V in the second half of the year may become the core breakthrough point for Beijing Hyundai to reshape its market presence and open up long-term growth space. If the Ioniq V can align with domestic user needs in terms of three-electric capabilities, intelligent driving experience, and pricing strategy, while being supported by a comprehensive offline experience channel and regular marketing actions, it has the opportunity to regain market attention and bring Beijing Hyundai back into the public eye. Conversely, if the product lacks differentiated advantages, subsequent efforts will be like water without a source, and Beijing Hyundai will face even greater difficulties in revitalizing itself.

Li Fenggang's localization reform approach has already laid the groundwork. However, to revive the long-absent Beijing Hyundai, internal sorting alone is not enough. More product and resource autonomy from the Korean headquarters is needed to translate the years of layout in transformation into market actions that consumers can see and feel. Only in this way can Beijing Hyundai break the deadlock and revitalize itself in this fiercely competitive market, regaining its former glory.