April 18, 2024

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[THE INVESTOR] Hyundai Motor topped J.D. Power’s customer satisfaction survey in China despite declining sales there amid continuing bilateral tensions regarding the deployment of the THAAD missile system, industry sources said on July 3.

Beijing Hyundai -- Hyundai Motor’s Chinese joint venture -- ranked No. 1 among 41 companies in a satisfaction survey conducted by J.D. Power from May 2016 to March 2017. A total of 23,815 Chinese consumers responded. The automaker took back the crown from Dongfeng Citroen Automobile, a joint venture between Dongfeng Motor and PSA Peugeot Citroen, which had placed first place in 2016. This year, Dongfeng Citroen stood at sixth place. Changan Ford, a local joint venture with US automaker Ford Motor, ranked second in the survey. 

“Considering how Hyundai Motor is experiencing difficulties in China due to the growing competition and recent fall in sales, the result is very meaningful,” a Hyundai Motor spokesperson was quoted as saying in the report. Sales of Beijing Hyundai dropped 37 percent to 266,229 units from January to May when the row between Seoul and Beijing over THAAD reached fever pitch.

Hyundai Motor started doing business in China as a joint venture with Beijing Automotive Group in 2002, and has four plants in Beijing and Changzhou.

J.D. Power is a US-based global marketing information service provider that conducts multiple annual surveys of the automotive industry in the US as well as in other countries.

By Song Seung-hyun (ssh@heraldcorp.com)