Unlike its local counterpart Evergrande Group, which is directly involved in making cars, Wanda seems to be aiming at the car sales and service sector.

(Image credit: Wanda Group)

Li Hongpeng, who has been Hyundai Motor's chief commercial officer in China since July 1 last year, told local auto media autoreport.cn that he has offered to resign and will join real estate giant Wanda in January next year to lead the latter's business in the automotive sector.

Li will become president of Wanda Auto Technology Services Co, marking the real estate giant's readiness to make a big splash in the automotive sector, the report said. Autoreport is a media outlet owned by BitAuto.

Information from data provider Tianyancha shows that Wanda established Wanda Auto Technology Services Co on November 22 with a registered capital of RMB 100 million, and on December 6 it set up another company, Beijing Wanda Auto Technology Services Co for RMB 5 million.

Notably, unlike its local counterpart Evergrande Group, which is directly involved in car making, Wanda seems to be aiming at the field of car sales and services.

Wanda Auto's main business includes new car sales, used car trading, car repair, charging, battery swap services, car-related products, car owners' club and membership services.

The transformation of the auto industry has become unstoppable, and the sales model and consumption scenario of cars in the next decade will definitely be completely overturned with the popularity of new energy vehicles, and traditional car companies will be abandoned by users if they don't do all-round transformation, the report said, citing Li.

Relying on the Wanda Group's more than 400 Wanda Plazas across China and an annual consumer population of more than 5 billion, Wanda Auto Technology Services Co has a huge opportunity to build an auto consumer service ecosystem, Li said.

Wanda has already made moves in the automotive sector previously.

In August this year, Wanda and FAW Group reached a strategic cooperation to cooperate on new car sales, charging, battery swap services and membership management.

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