BAIC's 2017 net profit dips on lower sales
BAIC Motor Co.'s 2017 net profit decreased 4.7 percent to below 11 billion yuan ($1.7 billion) due to sharply lower sales at the state-owned automaker’s proprietary brands and its joint venture with Hyundai Motor Co.
BAIC has struggled to develop a competitive brand in China. Last year, aggregate sales at BAIC’s sedan, SUV and minibus brands plunged 48 percent from a year earlier to roughly 236,000.
Chinese consumers also boycotted Korean brands in 2017 after South Korea installed a U.S.-made missile defense system, which Beijing believes poses a threat to China’s national security.
As a result, deliveries of Beijing Hyundai Motor Co., BAIC’s passenger vehicle joint venture with Hyundai Motor Co., plummeted 31 percent to around 785,000 in 2017.
The sales slump eclipsed strong deliveries at BAIC’s two joint ventures with Daimler AG. Sales at Beijing Benz, which produces Mercedes-Benz passenger vehicles, surged 33 percent to approximately 423,000.
Sales at Fujian Benz, which builds Mercedes-Benz vans, soared 79 percent to roughly 22,000.
BAIC, based in the Chinese capital of Beijing, is listed in Hong Kong.
Chinese consumers also boycotted Korean brands in 2017 after South Korea installed a U.S.-made missile defense system, which Beijing believes poses a threat to China’s national security.
As a result, deliveries of Beijing Hyundai Motor Co., BAIC’s passenger vehicle joint venture with Hyundai Motor Co., plummeted 31 percent to around 785,000 in 2017.
The sales slump eclipsed strong deliveries at BAIC’s two joint ventures with Daimler AG. Sales at Beijing Benz, which produces Mercedes-Benz passenger vehicles, surged 33 percent to approximately 423,000.
Sales at Fujian Benz, which builds Mercedes-Benz vans, soared 79 percent to roughly 22,000.
BAIC, based in the Chinese capital of Beijing, is listed in Hong Kong.
