It is rumored that Wang Fengying, the former president of Great Wall Motors, will be the CEO of Xiaopeng Motors

Economic Observation Network reporter Wang Shuiguo On January 10, according to several auto industry media reports, Yi Han, an executive from Geely, will join Xpeng Motors after the Spring Festival as the vice president of marketing, and will be fully responsible for Xpeng Motors’ marketing and public relations work. . In this regard, a reporter from the Economic Observer Network asked relevant people from Xiaopeng Motors for confirmation, but as of press time, no reply has been received.

Previously, He Xiaopeng, CEO of Xiaopeng Motors, had clearly conveyed the signal that the company was adjusting relevant personnel. On November 30, 2022, at Xiaopeng Motors’ 2022 third-quarter financial report conference call, He Xiaopeng stated that he would focus more on Xiaopeng Motors’ strategy, product planning and research and development, and promote organizational changes and upgrades. At present, the company is adjusting the organizational structure of the brand and marketing team. Entering December, Li Pengcheng, assistant CEO of Xiaopeng Motors and general manager of brand public relations, resigned from Xiaopeng Motors.

In addition, in terms of marketing and sales, in March 2021, Xpeng Motors CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) Xiong Qingyun resigned. According to industry sources at the time, Xiaopeng Motors internally learned that Xiong Qingyun’s position was concurrently held by Xiaopeng Motors Chief Talent Officer (CHO) Liao Qinghong.

According to the reporter of Economic Observation Network, at present, the two channels of Xiaopeng Motors direct sales and authorized dealers are under the jurisdiction of co-founders and senior vice presidents He Tao and Liao Qinghong respectively. Among them, He Tao is a technical background. He was responsible for the development of new energy vehicles and smart vehicle control systems at the Guangzhou Automobile Research Institute. Liao Qinghong is a software engineer. Before joining Xiaopeng Motors, he was mainly responsible for human resources in Huawei and 360 Group. manage. Neither is a sales connoisseur.

In the eyes of the outside world, the lack of excellent sales talents may be one of the reasons why Xiaopeng Motors’ new-generation strategic model G9 made low-level market strategy mistakes when it was launched in September 2022, and caused consumer dissatisfaction. At that time, Xiaopeng G9 was equipped with a “beggar version” model, and the configuration did not match the previous publicity, which caused many users to unsubscribe. This incident also led to a significant decline in Xiaopeng Motors’ sales.

It is rumored that Yi Han, who is about to join Xiaopeng Motors, is a senior marketing talent in the auto industry. According to public information, Yi Han graduated from Beihang University and joined Geely Group in early 2012. He initially worked in marketing management in Geely Automobile’s domestic sales company. During his work in Geely Automobile, the annual sales of Geely Automobile increased from more than 400,000 to more than 700,000.

In June 2016, Yi Han was transferred to Volvo Cars and was responsible for the landing and product promotion of Volvo Cars in China. After that, Yi Han successively took charge of the sales and brand building of the Lynk & Co brand and the smart brand, and achieved outstanding results.

In July 2022, Geely Group will launch a brand-new mid-to-high-end new energy vehicle brand Rado, and Yi Han will appear at the brand launch event as Rado Auto CGO (Chief Business Growth Officer). But not long after, in late November 2022, it was reported that Yi Han had resigned from Rado Auto.

In a market where Xiaopeng Motors urgently needs marketing and public relations talents, Yi Han, who has experience in sales and brand management of independent brands, luxury brands and joint venture brands, may be a good candidate for Xiaopeng Motors.

But joining Xpeng Motors is also a big challenge for Yi Han. On the one hand, Yi Han was born in a traditional car company and has no work experience in new car manufacturers; on the other hand, after nearly 9 years of development, Xiaopeng Motors is undergoing a period of major adjustments in its organizational structure and management mechanism. Can Yi Han Turning the tide is yet to be seen.

In the above-mentioned financial report conference call, He Xiaopeng proposed that not only good times should be considered, but also how to fly against the wind in adversity. Reducing costs, using lower R&D investment to produce more products, reducing marketing expenses, and reducing capital expenditures will all be the focus of Xiaopeng Motors’ future development.

If Yi Han does join Xpeng Motors after the Spring Festival, it will not be easy to do the marketing and public relations work of the company under the premise that the latter wants to “tighten clothes and eat less” for development.

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Wang Shuaiguo Economic Observer reporter

Pay attention to the development of the automobile industry, report on industrial transformation, the trend of automobile companies, etc., pay more attention to new car manufacturers and domestic brands, and are good at on-site interviews and other reports.