Author |Zhou Zhiyu.
The rumors of Volvo and its major shareholder Geely Holding "having a gap" have come to an end.
At noon on December 11, Volvo Cars announced personnel changes. Martin Persson, President of Volvo Cars Greater China, will become the head of commercial operations for Volvo Cars Asia Pacific (APEC).Yu Kexin, the current Vice President of Volvo Cars Greater China Sales Company, will be appointed President of the Greater China Sales Company** from January 1, 2024, and will report to Yuan Xiaolin, Senior Vice President, President and CEO of Volvo Car Group Asia Pacific.
Regarding this personnel change, a person familiar with Volvo Cars said that it was "expected". On the eve of the Chengdu Auto Show, after the sudden change in Volvo Greater China's personnel, this personnel adjustment is logical.
Four months ago, Qin Peiji, president of Volvo Cars' Greater China sales company, resigned, and three days later he became deputy general manager of Geely Automobile Group Sales CompanyPan Hesong, general manager of Volvo Cars Japan, then took over from Qin Peiji. This executive change is considered to be a "gap" between Volvo and its major shareholder Geely Holdings, and a "Game of Thrones" has been staged in the market.
The latest personnel adjustment is released, which means that the changes that occurred in this multinational luxury car company have returned to a new equilibrium after a short period of imbalance. In the face of electrification transformation, which is a problem that plagues many car companies, Volvo and Geely still need to work together.
In response to the personnel changes, Volvo said that Volvo's electrification transformation will be fully accelerated as new models continue to be launched on the market in 2024. In this critical period, the leadership rotation and exchange of core positions will undoubtedly promote cross-regional experience exchange and Xi within the organization, fully strengthen the capacity building and system capacity of the enterprise, and lay a solid foundation for Volvo to prepare for 2024 and realize the electrification transformation.
Yu Kexin joined Volvo in 2015, from Director of Peking University to Vice President of Sales, and played a very important role in the construction of Volvo's sales system in Greater China in the past 8 years and the promotion of Volvo's electrification development in China. He is also a person that Yuan Xiaolin trusts very much.
With experienced Yu Kexin at the helm of Volvo Cars' sales business in Greater China, Volvo will continue to coordinate multiple resources to cope with the transformation of new energy in the second half of the fierce competition in the Chinese market.
An example of this is the Volvo EM90, which debuted in China in November, and is based on the SEA architecture, which was jointly developed by Geely and Volvo. After the advent of the SEA architecture, brands including Lynk & Co, Zeekr, Volvo and Lotus have benefited greatly. In addition to the EM90, Volvo's EX30 compact electric SUV is also based on the Sea's vast architecture.
Luo Wenxiang, President and CEO of Volvo Cars, also said frankly that Geely, as a partner of Volvo, can share technology, accelerate research and development, and control costs more reasonably, which is a very unique competitive advantage of Volvo. This collaborative model is a very successful business model.
On the road of electrification transformation, the relationship between Geely and Volvo has been "you have me, I have you", and no one can do without anyone. They have changed from "teachers and students" who learned Xi unilaterally in the past to partners who support each other and collaborate together. Geely is not only a shareholder and financial investor for Volvo, but also a mentor and strategic partner on the way forward.
Prior to the release of the EM90, Luo Wenxiang held a rare Volvo global board meeting in China in September this year, which has been held at the headquarters in Gothenburg, Sweden.
The star professional manager, who once created the "Dyson model" in the Dyson Group, valued China's localized R&D capabilities, and had a lot of his own ideas on the direct sales model, is obviously also rethinking how to strike a delicate balance between the independence of Volvo's management and the maintenance of its partnership with Geely. Coordinating the strategic partnership between Geely and Volvo is also an important task entrusted to Yuan Xiaolin by Li Shufu, chairman of Geely Holding Group.
Today's competition in the new energy market is not only about the underlying technology. Whether Mercedes-Benz and BMW have joined forces to build a charging network in China, or Toyota, Audi and other car companies have further increased their cooperation with Chinese partners, it shows that the current market competition is fierce, and the luxury market has changed.
The partnership between Volvo and Geely has also entered a new phase. From focusing on technology in the past to more comprehensive system capability cooperation such as sales and service, the two sides have more areas to run-in.
The century-old transformation of the automotive industry has tested the management wisdom of a number of car company bigwigs. Li Shufu, who is strategizing in the capital market, must not take it lightly if he wants to truly realize the vision of "making the world full of auspiciousness".
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