Preparing for the new year
Author｜Truman
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Editor｜Qin Zhangyong
The involution among car companies starts with personnel.
Just one month into 2024, major car companies are still very determined to move inward. The battles for personnel changes are getting bigger and bigger. There have been reports from many car companies that senior executives have taken up new positions or resigned.
According to incomplete statistics from the Super Electric Laboratory, in January this year alone, there were more than More than 20 senior executivesActively or passively left their original positions, personnel adjustments will be more frequent than at the beginning of 2023.
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Over the past year, the entire automotive industry has been in turmoil, with high-level personnel changes involving nearly 50 companies and more than 130 senior executives undergoing personnel changes.
Although there are reasons for each personnel change, it also reveals everyone's nervousness and urgency. A consensus is that,The new energy automobile industry has arrived at Cidian2024 will be the decisive year for the new energy vehicle industry.
The new personnel appointment is the signal for this decisive battle to begin. It is necessary to reduce costs and increase efficiency, improve performance, and accelerate transformation and change.
But no one knows how much increase the new leader can bring, whether it is better or worse?
01.New force: marketing + manufacturing is the focus
Compared with traditional car companies, the personnel of new forces move more frequently and are mostly concentrated inmarketing and productionThis is also a problem faced by most new forces.
The first big personnel shakeup at the beginning of 2024 came from Nezha Automobile. After Nezha Automobile’s sales suffered a setback in 2023, CEO Zhang Yong quickly made a public online review, saying that the company’s “The communication is really bad“.
Subsequently, reform measures were announced, and I personally took charge of marketing. The senior executives who were previously responsible for marketing were directly dismissed from their posts: Jiang Feng, the former executive vice president of the marketing company, and Li Changhe, the former executive vice president of the marketing company, were dismissed.
In addition, nine personnel appointments related to the marketing system were also announced.It is worth mentioning that Nezha’s new appointmentThe employment period is only half a year. We make a bold guess that if it doesn’t work, adjustments will likely continue.
In general, Nezha's personnel changes are due to the sluggish sales in 2023, so a major change in the management of the marketing company was made. It is reported that Nezha Auto delivered a total of 127,000 vehicles throughout the year, a year-on-year decrease of 20%. It is also one of the few car companies among several new forces that has experienced a year-on-year decline.
Among the new forces, Xiaopeng has experienced the biggest personnel changes. Since Wang Fengying joined Xiaopeng, Xiaopeng’s internal organizational structure has been continuously adjusted.
On January 22, some media revealed that Wang Fengying led a new round of organizational restructuring of Xpeng Motors, involving multiple departments such as marketing, human resources, intelligent data, production and manufacturing, and product planning.
Specifically, Huang Ronghai, the former head of Xiaopeng’s Data Intelligence Center (DIC), took up the new position as head of the human resources department, and Chen Dan, the former head of the department, resigned.
Jiang Ping, the original manufacturing vice president of Xpeng, retired and was taken over by Zhang Li, the former general manager of Great Wall Motors. It is particularly important to mention that Zhang Li’s other identity is Wang Fengying’s spouse. The two had previously worked together at Great Wall Motors.Have worked together for 30 years.
Zhang Li is mainly responsible for manufacturing at Great Wall. Public information shows that Zhang Li has served as the general manager of Great Wall Xushui Company for a long time. Great Wall's annual production capacity in Xushui production base is as high as 1 million units, and Haval H6 is produced here.
Later, Zhang Li was responsible for the production and manufacturing of the tank series launched by Great Wall. It can be said that Zhang Li was a good player in this aspect.
Xiaopeng sets annual sales for 2024 280,000The sales target not only means that sales will face challenges, but there will also be pressure on production, manufacturing and delivery. It is self-evident that Zhang Li's top priority is.
Some people come and others leave. Yi Han, a former Geely executive, joined Xpeng after the Spring Festival in 2023 and served as vice president, with overall responsibility for marketing and public relations. He left before the Spring Festival this year and returned to Geely. Last month, smart announced that Yi Han had been appointed as deputy CMO of the brand's global company and CEO of its China marketing company.
Another new force that shined last year, Leapmotor, also faced a personnel crisis at the beginning of the year. On January 24, Leapmotor issued a statement saying that the labor contract of former Leapmotor co-founder and president Wu Baojun had been terminated. It expired on January 8, and upon resolution of the board of directors, the company will not renew the appointment.
Just recently, some media reported that Zeng Lintang, assistant to the chairman of Leapmotor, also left the company in December last year. The response from Leapao was, “Zeng Lintang left Leapmotor last year due to personal reasons.”
In addition, NIO is also accelerating system adjustments. On January 6, NIO Hardware Vice President Bai Jian posted on Weibo that he would take over NIO’s mobile phone business.Former person in charge Yin Shuijun will resign.
It is reported that Yin Shuijun was the president of Meitu Mobile and officially joined NIO in 2022. He was responsible for leading the establishment of NIO’s mobile phone business team and was mainly responsible for the implementation of the mobile phone business. In September last year, NIO mobile phones were officially launched.
Although both parties expressed polite opinions on social platforms, the outside world is still full of speculation about Yin Shuijun's resignation. It is believed that Yin Shuijun may have resigned because NIO's mobile phone business did not meet expectations and its prospects were unclear.
NIO is one of the few car companies among the new forces that develops side businesses. Yin Shuijun’s resignation means to a certain extent that NIO has begun to re-evaluate its mobile phone business internally.
02.Traditional car companies: everything is for sales
Compared with new forces, a major feature of the personnel adjustments of traditional car companies is that the top leaders of car companies directly step down to participate in specific business management, or take temporary positions in sub-brands, and promote more younger executives.
In December last year, Avita Technology issued a statement that Tan Benhong would no longer serve as the chairman and CEO of Avita Technology and would become the deputy secretary of the Party Committee of Changan Automobile. The new chairman of Avita Technology is currentlyZhu Huarong, the leader of Changan Automobile.
In addition, Chen Zhuo, Vice President of Avita, was promoted to President of Avita; Wang Jun, President of Changan Automobile, became Chairman of Deep Blue Automobile; Deng Chenghao, CEO of Deep Blue Automobile, was promoted to Vice President of Changan Automobile.
As a sub-brand incubated by traditional car companies, Avita has had high hopes since its birth. Zhu Huarong also said that Avita carries the upward mission of Changan Automobile's brand, and its development is Changan Automobile's top priority.
Previously, when Tan Benhong was in office, he proposed the goal of “Avita Technology will challenge orders for 100,000 vehicles in 2023.” However, the final annual delivery volume was less than 30,000 units.
Now that Zhu Huarong, the group's top leader, is personally in charge, Avita's development is bound to receive more resources and support.
If the big boss of Changan is personally in charge, then SAIC's management team is constantly injecting young and fresh blood to further accelerate innovation and transformation.
On January 11, SAIC Motor announced that Vice President Wu Bing will no longer serve as general manager of SAIC Passenger Vehicle Branch and CEO of Feifan Automobile. Wang Jun, former general manager of Huayu Automobile, will take over as general manager of SAIC Passenger Car Branch and CEO of Feifan Automobile. Fan Auto CEO.
One month before this appointment, SAIC had already issued a personnel adjustment announcement: the appointment of SAIC Volkswagen General Manager Jia Jianxu, Zhiji Automobile CEO Jiang Jun, SAIC Passenger Vehicle Branch General Manager and Feifan Automobile CEO Wu Bing as SAIC Group Vice President President.
Among them, Jiang Jun was born in the 1970s, and Jia Jianxu and Wu Bing were born in the 1975s.It is reported that SAIC currently has eight vice presidents, and 6 of them are all born in the 1970s.
Compared with the promotion of many young backbones at SAIC, Great Wall Motors next door has lost a lot of talent.
In addition to Zhang Li's move to Xpeng mentioned above, the executives of many brands under Great Wall have changed frequently, especially Wei Pai, who has been replaced by 6 CEOs in 7 years as the backbone.
The current job of Wei Brand is concurrently held by Liu Yanzhao, General Manager of Tank Brand, and former CEO Chen Siying announced his resignation in October last year. In early January, it was revealed that Chen Siying had joined Polestar Motors as chief operating officer (COO) and was fully responsible for the marketing business.
After Chen Siying resigned, Great Wall Motors announced new personnel appointments. Zhao Yongpo will serve as the general manager of the Haval brand, and Gu Yukun, the former product director of the Tank 500, will serve as the executive deputy general manager of the tank brand.
As the main force behind Great Wall's rise, Wei Pai's development in recent years has not been satisfactory. In 2023, Wei Pai sold a total of 41,600 new cars, which was far less than two-thirds of its peak period.
Wei brand's personnel adjustment has been turbulent, and Great Wall's flagship brand Haval has not been spared. Earlier media reports stated that,Former Haval General Manager Li Xiaorui was revealed to have joined Xiaomi Motorsbut Xiaomi Motors did not confirm the news.
At the end of January, it was reported that Qiao Xinyu, executive vice president of Haval brand marketing, had resigned, and his whereabouts are unknown. People close to Harvard said Qiao Xinyu’s resignation was related to Harvard’s organizational structure adjustment. For a time, the news that Great Wall executives were leaving one after another became a hot topic.
03.Joint venture/luxury brand: overweight the Chinese market
In the increasingly competitive Chinese auto market, new forces are taking off, independent brands are chasing each other, and joint venture car companies and luxury brands have to deal with market challenges through internal adjustments and optimizations.
On October 18, 2023, the BMW Group announced that Sean Green, the former senior vice president of marketing of BMW Brilliance Automotive Co., Ltd., will serve as the president and CEO of the BMW Group Greater China. Jochen Goller, the former President and CEO of Greater China, will return to the German headquarters.Promoted to BMW Group Director.
Although the two “senior sirs” are both foreign executives, they are reported to have worked in China for nearly 10 years and can be said to be real “China hands.”
Shao Bin, president of BMW (China) Automobile Trading Co., Ltd., will succeed Gao Xiang as senior vice president of marketing at BMW Brilliance.
In 2023, BMW once again beat Mercedes-Benz and Audi and won the BBA sales championship in China with a sales volume of 825,000 vehicles.Pure electric sales account for only 12%whether China Express returns to the headquarters or China Express takes over as the head of Greater China, it illustrates BMW's emphasis on the Chinese market and the urgent need to accelerate the electric transformation.
Audi also announced last month that Johannes Roscheck will serve as President of Audi China from April 1, 2024, succeeding Wen Zeyue, current President of Audi China, to coordinate and manage Audi's related business in the Chinese market.
After working in Beijing for two years, former Audi China President Jürgen Unser will return to Germany as planned to prepare for a new job at the Volkswagen Group.
In addition, Volkswagen China also stated that starting from April 1, 2024, Wu Borui, a member of the management board of the Volkswagen brand responsible for the “new mobility” business, will take over from Han Hongming to be responsible for the group's research and development work in China, and promote the group's product portfolio to localize technology in China. He also serves as the CEO of Volkswagen Group (China) Technology Co., Ltd. (VCTC).
Another luxury brand, Jaguar Land Rover, officially announced that starting from January 2, Wang Fang, who once served as President of Aston Martin China and Vice President of National Sales of Mercedes-Benz Canada, will serve as Jaguar Land Rover China and Chery Executive Vice President of Marketing Department of Jaguar Land Rover Joint Marketing and Service Organization (IMSS), reporting to Wu Chen, President of IMSS.
In addition, Dongfeng Honda, Dongfeng Nissan, Volvo, Lynk & Co and other joint venture car companies with new and old forces have successively announced personnel changes.
Behind the personnel turnover isAutomakers’ desire for sales and share.
Joint venture brands can no longer just sit back and make money, and the new energy vehicle industry has begun to heat up. In fact, in the final analysis, the biggest factor in competition still depends on people.
Let's see who can have the last laugh.