After the serious "involution" of the auto market in 2023, I thought that various car companies would take a little rest during the market trough before the Spring Festival in 2024 to recharge for a new round of struggle after the year.
However, what people did not expect was that the war began immediately in 2024.
On January 1, 2024, in the middle of the New Year's Day holiday, Xpeng Motors took the lead in launching the strategic MPV model "Xpeng X9". In January alone, dozens of new cars were released, pre-sold, and launched.
Behind the battle for products, car companies have also set off a change in the latitude of the organizational structure.
Before the arrival of the "Jiachen Year" of the lunar calendar, the positions of many car company executives have been adjusted. According to incomplete statistics, in January alone, more than 20 senior executives of car companies in the Chinese market changed. Many industry insiders lamented that in 2024, car companies will swing the "first knife" to their executives.
Before the Spring Festival arrived, many senior executives of car companies lost their jobs, and I am afraid it will be difficult to have a good Spring Festival. After seeing these executives being cut, I am afraid that many senior executives of car companies are also sad about this Spring Festival because they are not sure about their positions. This is evident in the fierce competition in China's auto market.
Next, let's take a look at which car companies have moved "knives" to their management before the Spring Festival.
At the beginning of 2024, the first personnel event in China's auto circle will come from Nezha Automobile.
In 2022, Nezha Automobile will gain 15Recognized by 20,000 car owners, it won the annual sales championship of new car-making forces. However, when the time enters 2023, Nezha Automobile's sales have plummeted by 20% year-on-year, not only giving up the crown of sales champion, but also falling all the way to the fifth place among the new car-making forces.
On the first working day of 2024, Daniel Zhang, co-founder and CEO of Nezha Automobile, posted a review on social ** to review what had been done badly before, and announced important plans for 2024. One of the most important is that he will also be the general manager of the marketing company.
As Daniel Zhang personally grasped the marketing of Nezha Automobile, the two important executives in charge of marketing were directly dismissed. Among them are Jiang Feng, the former executive vice president of the marketing company, and Li Changhe, the former executive vice president of the marketing company. In addition, Nezha Automobile also announced a number of personnel appointments related to the marketing system, including the new appointment of 1 executive vice president, 4 vice presidents, 2 assistant presidents and 1 general manager of the marketing company.
It is worth mentioning that the employment period of Nezha Automobile's personnel adjustment is only half a year. This means that if no significant improvement is seen by June 2024, the company's marketing team will still be subject to new personnel changes.
Nezha Automobile is undoubtedly the earliest car company to adjust personnel in 2024, while Xpeng Motors is the car company with the largest personnel adjustment.
On January 22, a new round of organizational restructuring of Xpeng Motors was exposed, involving multiple departments such as marketing, human resources, intelligent data, manufacturing and product planning.
Specifically, Huang Ronghai, the former head of the data intelligence center (DIC) of Xpeng Motors, has been changed to be in charge of the human resources department, while Chen Dan, the former head of the human resources department, has resigned from Xpeng Motors; Zhang Li, the former general manager of Great Wall Motors, who joined Xpeng Motors a few months ago, will be in charge of manufacturing, replacing Jiang Ping, who has just retired. Jiang Ziyang, who previously worked as a senior consultant for positioning consulting at Reece Strategy, joined Xpeng Motors to be responsible for product planning, after being led by Wu Meng.
According to sources, the personnel adjustment is led by Wang Fengying, the new president who just joined Xpeng Motors at the beginning of 2023. A number of people familiar with the matter said that almost all of Wang Fengying's decisions were supported by He Xiaopeng, chairman and CEO of Xpeng Motors.
After the launch conference of Xiaopeng X9 on New Year's Day in 2024, He Xiaopeng said in an exchange with Youjia and other core ** that in the new year, in addition to technology and products, the company will make marketing from a "short board" to a "long board", so that the financial data will continue to rise, and will accelerate the process of globalization.
This large-scale personnel adjustment is undoubtedly one of the important measures for Xpeng Motors to promote its various businesses towards the new goal of 2024.
On January 6, 2024, Bai Jian, who is the head of hardware at NIO, publicly issued a document confirming that Yin Shuijun, the head of NIO's mobile phone, has resigned. He spoke highly of Yin Shuijun's work and said, "I came to pick up the mobile phone, which also shows that I am determined to do a good job in the driver's interconnection and mobile phone."
Not long after, Yin Shuijun himself also ** Bai Jian's Weibo, confirmed the relevant information, and said that NIO would continue to make mobile phones. As for the reason for his resignation, he said that he "just wanted to take a break".
Yin Shuijun joined NIO in 2022 and is mainly responsible for the implementation of the mobile phone business. Prior to joining NIO, he was the President of Meitu Mobile. In September 2023, NIO Phone was unveiled. Li Bin said that at that time, NIO's mobile phone team had about 600 people.
There are three versions of NIO Phone, of which 12GB+512GB** is 6499 yuan, the flagship version** is 6899 yuan, and EPedition** is 16GB+1TB, **7499 yuan. The biggest feature of this phone is that it incorporates a number of configurations that can be easily interconnected with the car.
Bai Jian joined NIO in November 2020 and also had extensive experience in the mobile phone business before that. Prior to joining NIO, he was the general manager of Xiaomi's chip and forward-looking research division, and earlier served as the hardware director of OPPO.
However, in the same month as the head of the mobile phone business, Baijian posted on the social platform: "I accidentally found that the left button + right volume down button of the Weilai mobile phone can take a screenshot." This should be the only phone ...... that supports one-handed screenshotsIt caused ridicule from netizens. This will undoubtedly make the outside world worry about the development of NIO's mobile phone business.
On January 23, Wu Baojun, co-founder and president of Leapmotor, was revealed to have resigned. At the same time, Leapmotor will no longer have the position of president. According to people familiar with the matter, Wu Baojun has not participated in the company's operation for a year, and his resignation has no impact on the company's operation.
The next day, Leapmotor issued a statement saying that Wu Baojun's labor contract had expired and terminated on January 8, 2024, and the board of directors had resolved not to renew his employment, and the relevant work would be handled by Vice President Li Tengfei.
On the same day, Wu Baojun said that his resignation was not proposed by himself, and that he had indeed been removed from the position of president, but he still continued to serve as an executive director. The resignation has not yet reached a consensus with the company and is still being coordinated, and the differences are mainly on the handling of equity holdings.
Wu Baojun has worked for Peugeot Automobile, GAC Honda, and GAC Toyota, and joined Leapmotor in May 2020 as co-founder and president. Prior to joining Leapmotor, he served as Vice President, President and Chairman of Zhongcheng Auto Insurance Co., Ltd.
The Hong Kong Stock Exchange disclosed but the information shows that Wu Baojun ** 50,000 shares of Leapmotor on January 2 at 33HK$6 was sold, totaling HK$1.68 million. After the completion of the transaction, Wu Baojun still holds Leapmotor 1345650,000 shares, second only to founder and chairman Zhu Jiangming.
Leapmotor's 2022 annual report shows that Wu Baojun's annual salary is 438230,000 yuan, of which 333 are wages and salaries40,000 yuan, share payment 391160,000 yuan, and the total salary is second only to Zhu Jiangming.
On January 2, it was reported that Chen Siying, senior vice president of Meizu Group and president of the automotive business unit, has officially joined Polestar Technology as chief operating officer (COO). In this regard, the company's insiders gave a positive answer.
After joining Polestar, Chen will be responsible for all aspects of Polestar's marketing segment, building a user-centric marketing business system for user development, user growth and user experience.
From 2001 to 2023, Chen Siying successively held key sales positions in brands such as Nanjing Fiat, Nanjing MG, SAIC Passenger Vehicle, BAIC, Qoros Automobile, and Geely Lynk & Co. At the beginning of 2023, Chen Siying resigned from Lynk & Co and joined Great Wall Motors, mainly responsible for the marketing of WEY brand.
In November 2023, Meizu just announced that Chen Siying was appointed as the company's senior vice president and president of the automotive business unit, responsible for the operation and management of the automotive product line. At the same time, Meizu announced that it will launch the DreamCar co-creation plan in the first quarter of 2024 to create an exclusive Meizu DreamCar MX for Meizu users. Chen Siying is the person in charge of the project.
Interstellar Meizu is a fusion of Hubei Xingji Times and Meizu Technology, and the founder of the group is Li Shufu, chairman of Geely Holdings. Polestar is a high-end electric car brand jointly created by Geely Automobile and Volvo. Chen Siying's new appointment is more like the return of the Geely system.
Not long after Chen Siying returned to the Geely system, another Geely veteran officially announced his return.
On January 8, Yi Han, former vice president of marketing of Xpeng, has been appointed as the deputy CMO of smart brand global company and CEO of China marketing company, mainly responsible for the sales and marketing service business in Chinese mainland, and reports directly to Zhang Mingxia, CMO of smart brand global company.
As early as 2012, Yi Han appeared as the deputy general manager and brand and marketing director of Geely Automobile Sales Company. In 2016, Yi Han was transferred to the Volvo brand, mainly responsible for Volvo's strategic solutions, sales, marketing, channel extension and other work in China, and was also in charge of marketing communications.
Subsequently, Geely began to build a high-end Lynk & Co brand. Yi Han went to Lynk & Co as the executive deputy general manager of the sales company. Subsequently, Yi Han went to the smart project of Geely and Daimler, and was responsible for the overall marketing business in the Chinese market on behalf of Geely. It can be said that the fate of Yi Han and smart has been produced since then.
In July 2022, Yi Han appeared in front of everyone as the chief business growth officer of Radar Automobile. At the beginning of 2023, Yi Han joined Xpeng Motors and was fully responsible for the marketing and public relations communication of Xpeng Motors.
In the new round of personnel adjustments started by Xpeng Motors in the fourth quarter of 2023, Yi Han chose to leave his job and return to Geely Automobile to lead the smart brand to further expand the Chinese market.
On January 11, SAIC announced that Wu Bing, vice president of SAIC, will no longer concurrently serve as the general manager of SAIC Passenger Vehicle Branch and CEO of Feifan Automobile. The above positions will be taken over by Wang Jun, former general manager of Huayu Automobile.
Less than a month and a half ago, SAIC Motor just announced that Jia Jianxu, general manager of SAIC Volkswagen, Jiang Jun, CEO of Zhiji Automobile, and Wu Bing, general manager of SAIC Passenger Vehicle Branch and CEO of Feifan Automobile, were promoted to vice presidents of SAIC, in order to further accelerate the pace of innovation and transformation of the new track and promote the solid implementation of the three-year action plan for new energy.
It can be said that Wu Bing's resignation as general manager of SAIC Passenger Vehicle Branch and CEO of Feifan Automobile this time is to focus on higher-dimensional thinking and management, and use Wang Jun to share the work of specific business development related to management.
Before taking up the post of General Manager of SAIC Passenger Vehicle Branch and CEO of Feifan Automobile, Wu Bing served as Director of Shanghai General Motors' Sales Network Development and Training Division, Director of Chevrolet's Marketing Division, General Manager of Insurance Sales and Secretary of the Party Branch of SAIC Motor Group, Leader of SAIC's Online Car-hailing Project Team, General Manager and Secretary of the General Party Branch of Shanghai Saike Mobility Technology Service.
Wang Jun is also the "old man" of SAIC, from the first-line workshop technician and on-site engineer of SAIC Volkswagen, he has been promoted all the way to the manager of the logistics department and the manager of the planning department. Since then, he has successively served as Deputy General Manager and Executive Director of the Manufacturing Department of SAIC Passenger Vehicle Branch, Executive Director of the Quality and Economic Operation Department of SAIC Motor, and General Manager of Huayu Automotive Systems Co., Ltd.
Within SAIC, Wang Jun is regarded as a professional leader in the field of automotive production system and quality control.
After Wu Bing, a post-70s generation, was promoted to vice president of SAIC, another post-70s generation of SAIC also showed his edge.
On January 19, SAIC-GM-Wuling officially announced that Lv Juncheng was appointed as the general manager of SAIC-GM-Wuling. Shen Yang no longer served as the general manager of SAIC-GM-Wuling and became the chairman of the company's innovation, development and strategy committee.
Shenyang has been at the helm of SAIC-GM-Wuling since its inception in 2002, serving as general manager for more than 21 years.
The relationship between Shenyang and Wuling began in 1985. In that year, he was transferred from Kunming to Liuzhou to work at the Liuzhou Mini Automobile Factory (the predecessor of Wuling). Then, in 1999, Shenyang took the helm of Liuzhou Wuling Automobile. Until November 2002, when SAIC-GM-Wuling was established, Shenyang served as the general manager until this personnel change.
During his tenure, Wuling once achieved annual sales of more than 2 million vehicles for many years, and created a number of national "god cars" such as Hongguang.
Since Shenyang, who was born in 1961, is now 63 years old, many people began to speculate about his ** person as early as a few years ago. I'm afraid few people would have thought that Lu Juncheng, who was born in 1978 and rarely had the opportunity to appear in the outside world, would become the ultimate winner of this position.
Lv Juncheng is also a "veteran" of SAIC-GM-Wuling. More importantly, he is also a "technology master", having served as deputy general manager, chief engineer, vehicle integration director, deputy general manager, and party secretary of SAIC-GM-Wuling Technology Center for many years.
In addition to the above-mentioned personnel changes, some overseas automakers have also announced plans for high-level changes in the Chinese market before the Chinese New Year. For example, Wang Fang, former president of Aston Martin China, has joined the joint marketing sales and service organization of Jaguar Land Rover China and Chery Jaguar Land Rover as executive vice president of marketing. Johannes Roczek will become President of Audi China on April 1, succeeding Wen Zeyue, who previously held the position after two years.
Judging from the current adjustment, most of the high-level changes of traditional car companies are a supplementary action for the previous personnel, and the adjustment of new forces is more like a "ruthless" knife to break away.
Due to the smaller capital reserves and weaker backers, the new forces have shown a more decisive attitude in this cruel struggle in the auto market. Perhaps, only this level of urgency can support their "ambitions" for the future.
Can this round of "ferocious sword-wielding" by the new forces against the top management increase their chances of winning in the struggle against powerful traditional car companies? Perhaps by the end of 2024, we will see some clear signals.
Text丨Zhang Yuzhe.
Editor丨Wang Xin.
Produced 丨 There is a driving report.