Economic Observer reporter Liu XiaolinWith the change of the top leader, CARIAD China has completely completed the "attribute" change in China. On February 28, CARIAD China, the software arm of Volkswagen, announced that from March 1, 2024, "software expert" Han Sanchu will take over from Chang Qing as CEO of CARIAD China. The most conspicuous part of the whole announcement is that Han Sanchu previously worked for Changan Automobile as the chief software architect.
If the selection of Chinese Chang Qing (one of the co-founders of CARIAD) from the German headquarters as the first head of CARIAD China in 2022 has already shown the importance that the public attaches to the localization of the Chinese market. Then, only two years later, letting local software talents from China's own brand car companies take over the overall business has the meaning that Volkswagen has made up for the lag in products caused by its own localization understanding is not "profound" enough.
According to public information, before joining Changan Automobile, Han Sanchu worked in ICT in the United States for 12 years, Huawei for 7 years, and served as Huawei's chief technology officer for global technical services. In 2021, Han Sanchu was invited to join Changan as the chief software architect of Changan Automobile, and in December 2022, Changan Technology Company was established, and Han Sanchu served as the CTO of Changan Technology.
After entering Chang'an, Han Sanchu led the team to spend two and a half years designing and implementing the SDA (Super DNA) platform architecture under the "new automobile" concept of "regional control + ** computing" for Chang'an. In the past two years, Changan Automobile, as a traditional car company, has rapidly risen to become a popular player on the new energy and intelligent track.
Now, Han Sanchu is expected to bring real local thinking and local style of play into the public system, and Cariad China has officially assembled a more down-to-earth local team to meet the local leader, and it seems that it is infinitely close to the main track in China.
CARIAD, the software company of the Volkswagen Group, is at the heart of its electrification strategy, providing a unified software and electronic architecture for Volkswagen's future electric vehicles. In April 2022, CARIAD announced its China strategy and established its first subsidiary, CARIAD China, which is responsible for providing localized innovative software products and related digital services to the public in the Chinese market.
Petrobosch, CEO of CARIAD, said that the pursuit of technology and strong demand from local customers constitute the main characteristics of competition in China's auto market. Here, software competence is increasingly becoming a decisive factor for success.
However, due to the continuous expansion of the difference between China's electric and intelligent market and overseas, CARIAD China has been under pressure since its inception. The company's position in the Volkswagen system is closely related to Volkswagen's current situation in China: China is the world's largest market for new energy vehicles, and its performance in the Chinese market will determine the success or failure of Volkswagen's electrification strategy. Secondly, Volkswagen is the largest multinational brand in China, and its goal is to extend its advantage in the gasoline vehicle market to the electric vehicle market. However, under the strong intelligent speed war of China's local car companies, Volkswagen has always been in a passive state. Volkswagen's biggest weakness is its software development capabilities, and the intelligent performance of its models has been thrown out of several positions by local models.
Judging from the timeline, the replacement of CARIAD China's CEO is also stepping on the rhythm of the high-level reshuffle of CARIAD headquarters in Germany and Volkswagen's adjustment of technical management in China. In May 2023, Volkswagen announced a complete restructuring of the Cariad Supervisory Board, starting with the removal of the CEO and the introduction of two software experts. The incident occurred after Volkswagen's board of directors organized a delegation to visit the Shanghai Auto Show in China, and the board leaders were shocked by the speed of development of electric and intelligent vehicles in China, and also filled with a sense of crisis for the gap between Volkswagen and Chinese car companies. According to the outside world, the restructuring of CARIAD aims to solve the problem of poor development of the software subsidiary.
In October 2023, Cariad's new CEO, Peter Bosch, inspected the China business. In November 2023, Chang Qing said in an interview that CARIAD's strategic deployment in China has been recognized by the group and headquarters, and the restructuring of CARIAD's headquarters management has no impact on China for the time being. Product development and go-live are still the main focus of the China team. However, "because the overall market is always changing, if there is a change in the layout of the Volkswagen Group in the future, we will definitely adjust it accordingly." ”
Facts have proved that the adjustment of the Chinese technology R&D team has been in the planning, both at the group level and within the CARIAD system. On January 29, Volkswagen Group announced the replacement of the head of R&D in China, from April 1, "(Volkswagen) Group's first-class R&D and software expert" Thomas Ulbrich will be responsible for Volkswagen's R&D work in China, and serve as the CEO of Volkswagen (China) Technology ***VCTC).
Over the past two years, CARIAD China has proven through frequent strategic adjustments and investment collaborations that the speed at which its local R&D capabilities can be ramped up determines the chances of Volkswagen's successful transformation in China. At the results presentation a month ago, Cariad China announced that it would integrate Cariad China and its joint venture teams Cariative, Carthunder and Carizon into the "C Family" in 2024.
The last three "Cs" represent the UX Design Center, which has been expanded through the acquisition of Shanghai Muchuan Industrial Design, Carthunder, a joint venture with Thunder, and Carizon, a joint venture with Horizon, focusing on user digital experience and interaction design, intelligent cockpit and intelligent driving, respectively. Combining the core technologies of these joint ventures, CARIAD China will develop and customize products that can be used in all Volkswagen models.
The establishment of these three companies makes CARIAD China the fastest foreign-funded enterprise in the automotive industry to realize the "replacement" of local resources. Borrowing local R&D resources and local talents, and following local laws, to develop models that meet local needs has been the concept widely spread by Volkswagen in electric intelligence.
In order to achieve the development of customized products in China faster, CARIAD China has recruited local talents, and has expanded to more than 1,000 people. According to the plan, starting in 2024, the R&D results of the C family will be launched on the car one after another. From 2025, the company's developed advanced driver assistance functions at the L2+ and L2++ levels will be available in vehicles.
However, CARIAD China is still not up to Chinese speed. This is a fatal gap. Chinese automakers are constantly reinventing the new car development cycle that was once dominated by multinational automakers, from four to three years and then to less than two years. The endless news of new car launches and lower and lower ** of Chinese brands have made Wolfsburg's Volkswagen top management anxiety index continue to rise. And Volkswagen is still completing the difficult jump from a four- to three-year development cycle.
Obviously, CARIAD China wants to become more like a local Chinese technology company, and through the leadership of Han Sanchu, it will cut into the main track of intelligence controlled by independent car companies. It is reported that although CARIAD China is rapidly absorbing local R&D talents and expanding the localization team. However, as a foreign-funded enterprise, its core senior management is still mainly transferred from within the public system, and its organizational structure, internal processes and communication efficiency are difficult to compare with local enterprises.
From this point of view, it is of great significance for CARIAD China to directly poach its own car companies and hand over the management of the largest multinational automaker's intelligent software company in China to local talents who are not descendants of Volkswagen. How does Han Sanchu transfer his understanding of the Chinese market and new cars to the software engineering development and organizational structure management of CARIAD China, and how long will it take for CARIAD China to enter the main track under his leadership? This will be of the most interest to the outside world.
According to Spei, Cariad China has now delivered the first batch of digital solutions for the Chinese market to the Group's brands. Next, Han Sanchu's task is to quickly deliver software products and greatly shorten the development cycle. He believes that Han Sanchu's rich experience and deep capabilities in the field of "software-defined vehicle" platform development will be beneficial to strengthen the strength of the CARIAD China team.
It is reported that Han Sanchu will also join the management board of Volkswagen Group (China) as executive vice president of the group (China). After the successful formation of CARIAD China, Evergreen will return to the Volkswagen Group headquarters as planned.
It is interesting to note that at the end of 2023, Changan announced that it had invited Klaus Ziccola, the former head of global design at Volkswagen Group, to join. In the era of electric intelligence, the flow of core talents between multinational car companies and Chinese domestic brands is becoming a new trend.