Many people know that South Korea's Hyundai Motor is relatively well-known in the automotive field, and everyone recognizes this brand. Speaking of Hyundai Motors, many netizens are familiar with it, but you may not have heard of the Hyundai Motors trademark. Today I would like to share with you some things about the Hyundai Motors trademark.
I remember when I was a kid, the cars that drove on the streets in the 1990s were usually Santanas. Therefore, it was popular at that time to carry a mobile phone with a BP machine on your waist and drive a Santana. It was definitely a symbol of successful people in that era. Before about 2000, it was almost rare to see modern cars. After that, modern cars entered the Chinese market, and the streets were filled with German cars, Japanese cars, American cars, and Korean cars that came from behind. When it comes to Korean cars, The one that everyone is most familiar with is Hyundai cars.
It is reported that the trademark of Hyundai Motor was registered by a private company in Zhejiang before the establishment of Beijing Hyundai. It was not until after the Sonata was sold offline that Beijing Hyundai spent a huge amount of money to buy back the trademark.
“40 million yuan is just the valuation of this trademark.” Zhuge Yang, assistant to the president of Zhejiang Hyundai Group, explained his story. The 40 million yuan he mentioned refers to a transaction that Zhejiang Hyundai Group made with Beijing Hyundai Motor using the Hyundai trademark they successfully registered as early as 1996.
At the end of 2002, Beijing Hyundai used two months of "modern" speed to make a strong debut amidst praise. But what Hyundai didn't expect was that after the car was launched, they went to the State Trademark Administration to check and found that the "Hyundai" trademark had been successfully registered by Zhejiang Hyundai Group as early as February 14, 1996.
“Beijing Hyundai came to the door on its own initiative.” Zhuge Yang recalled that the chairman of Beijing Hyundai rushed to Hangzhou urgently, found Zhejiang Hyundai Group, and expressed his hope to buy back the Hyundai trademark. As a well-known private enterprise in Zhejiang, Zhejiang Hyundai Group, which is hoping to enter the automobile industry, proposed to Beijing Hyundai "to use the general distribution of Hyundai cars in Hangzhou, Zhejiang in exchange for trademarks." Beijing Hyundai accepted this condition. The discount for Beijing Hyundai's provincial general dealership rights is approximately 40 million yuan.
Inquiries from the State Trademark Administration confirmed that the "Hyundai" Class 12 (automobile) trademark registered by Zhejiang Hyundai in 1996 was transferred to Beijing Hyundai Motor last year. Industry insiders analyzed that according to Beijing Hyundai's current market performance, the repurchase and sale of trademark rights is actually not expensive at all. "Compared to Beijing Hyundai's annual profit of about 1 billion yuan, tens of millions of yuan is just a fraction."
On October 18, 2002, South Korea's Hyundai established Beijing Hyundai Motor Company through a joint venture with Beijing Automotive Investment Company, and regarded Beijing Hyundai as its most important overseas production base. In its first year of establishment, Beijing Hyundai achieved production and sales exceeding 50,000 vehicles, setting a new record for the rapid development of China's automobile industry.
In this process, Beijing Hyundai’s investment in trademark advertising is also amazing. Normal media advertising aside, in early 2003, Beijing Hyundai spent 118 million yuan just to name the original Beijing Guoan football team Beijing Hyundai. Later, Beijing Hyundai competed to be a sponsor of the 2008 Olympic Games, and the minimum threshold to obtain this qualification was US$50 million.
It was revealed that Beijing Hyundai did not actually buy out the "Hyundai" trademark, but only used Hyundai Motor's Zhejiang general agent in exchange for the right to use the Hyundai trademark. This means that it spent huge sums of money to create the "Hyundai" automobile trademark. It does not belong to Beijing Hyundai Motor. Zhuge Yang also admitted this statement. However, after verification, all ownership of the "Hyundai" trademark and automobile category has been transferred to Beijing Hyundai.
It is reported that Zhejiang Hyundai’s profit from trademarks is by no means just a Hyundai car. Zhuge Yang revealed that they later negotiated with Pan Shiyi, a famous real estate developer, through a law firm in Beijing, requiring Beijing Hyundai City, which uses the Hyundai trademark, to purchase the "Hyundai" trademark for a price of up to 100 million.