Hyundai Kia Motors Launches 'Customer Assurance Purchase Program' for COVID-19 Response in China

[Asia Economy Reporter Suyeon Woo] Hyundai Kia Motors is implementing a new concept安心 purchase program in China that allows customers to exchange or return purchased vehicles, considering various situations customers may face due to the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19).

Beijing Hyundai and Dongfeng Yueda Kia announced on the 5th that they have each launched customer care programs called 'Xin'an Leader (心安?得, providing peace of mind and various benefits)' and 'Ai Xin Bu Duan (愛新不斷, love never ends)' starting from April.

This program is a new concept安心 purchase program that allows customers to exchange or return vehicles if their situation changes after purchase, such as unemployment, epidemic, or accidents. It was designed to revitalize the sluggish Chinese automobile market due to COVID-19 and to support Chinese consumers who hesitate to purchase vehicles to buy with安心.

Beijing Hyundai's Xin'an Leader operates with three programs: ▲ model exchange, which allows customers to change to another model within one month after vehicle delivery if their mind changes, ▲ new car exchange, which replaces the vehicle with the same model new car if an accident occurs within one year after delivery, and ▲安心 purchase, which allows customers to pay off the remaining installment with the used vehicle if the vehicle is no longer needed due to unemployment within one year after delivery.

The program targets individual customers purchasing Tucson (TL), Mingtou, ix35, Lafesta, Santa Fe, and ix25, and conditions such as accumulated mileage and accident history must be met.

Beijing Hyundai Dealer

Dongfeng Yueda Kia's Ai Xin Bu Duan is the first in China to operate two programs focusing on changes in customers' economic situations such as unemployment and epidemics:安心 installment and new car exchange.

安心 installment is a program that pays installments for six months (while maintaining vehicle ownership) or provides consolation money of the same amount (with vehicle return conditions) to customers who have difficulty paying installments due to loss of income caused by unemployment or epidemics during the installment period.

New car exchange is a program that allows customers to exchange for a new vehicle of a different model if their mind changes within one month or one year after vehicle delivery. If conditions such as accumulated mileage and accident history are met, the program guarantees 100% of the return vehicle's value (within one month of delivery) or 90% (within one year) and exchanges it for a new car. The target customers are individual buyers of the new K3, KX3, Sportage, and KX5.

Hyundai Kia Motors is also responding quickly to Beijing city's old vehicle scrappage subsidy system. Beijing Hyundai is the first in the Chinese automobile industry to prepay the old vehicle scrappage subsidy to customers starting this month and also provides additional support funds on its own.

Additionally, Beijing Hyundai provides integrated customer services that maximize customer safety and convenience while minimizing burdens throughout the entire vehicle purchase process. To accommodate customers reluctant to go out due to COVID-19, programs are implemented that allow customers to consult, experience vehicles, purchase, and receive vehicle delivery without visiting showrooms by utilizing non-face-to-face channels and on-site services.

To this end, Beijing Hyundai has established online and mobile showrooms on its official website, the portal site Baidu, and the mobile messenger WeChat, where customers can experience vehicle interior and exterior designs as well as key functions.

Meanwhile, as the Chinese automobile market began to recover last month, the sales decline of Hyundai Kia Motors compared to the same month last year also narrowed. Beijing Hyundai's sales dropped sharply by 79% in February but the decline slowed to 22% in March, and Dongfeng Yueda Kia also recovered from an 87% decrease in February to a 38% decrease in March. Hyundai Kia Motors attributes the March sales recovery in the Chinese market largely to production normalization and the promotion of various customer programs.

A Hyundai Motor Group official said, "We expect high customer response in China with this program that reduces customers' economic losses even in unavoidable situations caused by COVID-19," adding, "We will continue to promote customer marketing programs responding to COVID-19 to capture the hearts of Chinese consumers."