Since this year, Audi, GM, Polaris, Honda and PSA have all changed their heads in China. Among them, Wu, president of Audi China District, was transferred back to Volkswagen Group only nine months after taking over.
In addition, Kia has appointed a new global president, and Ford has also determined the next global CEO candidate early. Even Tesla, two executives left this year.
High-level turmoil in overseas car companies is frequent, and changes in domestic car companies are not small. Several domestic joint ventures such as Guangqi Honda, FAW Toyota, FAW Volkswagen and Dongfeng Renault also experienced high-level personnel changes. Guangqi Honda changed the head of the Japanese side, Moriyama Keying succeeded Sato Liyan as the general manager of Guangqi Honda Automobile Co., Ltd. and the general manager of Guangqi Honda Automobile Sales Co., Ltd., and Hong Hao, vice president and marketing minister of Dongfeng Renault, directly chose to leave.
Chery, Zotye, Great Wall Motor and other independent car companies have also experienced personnel changes. Among them, Jia Yaqian, vice president of Chery Automobile and general manager of Chery Brand Marketing Center, no longer served as the brand marketing director of Xingtu, but hired Chen, who used to be the marketing director of Dongfeng Renault.
In this high-level shock wave of car companies, the biggest variable is undoubtedly the domestic new car companies.
Since the beginning of this year, Xpeng Automobile, Weilai Automobile, Weimar Automobile, He Zhong Automobile, Skyline Automobile, Bojun Automobile and Zero Run Automobile have all experienced high-level resignations, and Weilai Automobile has left with two vice presidents, Huang.
▲ List of senior executives of global car companies in 2020
The COVID-19 epidemic at the beginning of this year made it more difficult for struggling car companies. Car companies must find better ways to face this crisis. Many car companies choose to replace new executives, hoping to bring updated management and organizational structure.
But in any case, this change reflects the fact that the global auto market continues to deteriorate, and the wave of layoffs of auto companies has spread to executives.
First, the car market meets the epidemic black swan in the cold winter? Replaced 26 car executives.
After ten years of growth, the global automobile market stopped its rapid development in 20 18 and began to enter a new round of automobile market winter. The most obvious change brought by the cold winter in the automobile market is the decline in automobile sales.
What is the global car sales in 20 19? 90.3 million vehicles. In 20 18, the global automobile sales volume was about 9,506 vehicles, down more than 4% year-on-year. In 20 19, the sales volume of China, the world's largest automobile consumption market, also dropped significantly. In 20 19, China * * * sold 25.769 million vehicles, down 8.2% year-on-year.
Global car sales have fallen sharply, and car companies will naturally have a hard time.
Last year, foreign car companies such as Volkswagen, Mercedes-Benz, Honda, Ford, Nissan and General Motors all decided to lay off employees, ranging from thousands to tens of thousands. The domestic car company Shenlong Automobile said that it would lay off more than 4,000 employees, and the number of Weilai has been reduced from 1 10,000 to less than 7,000.
After entering 2020, affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, the global automobile market has not improved. According to the data released by the China Automobile Association, in June and February of 2020, the production and sales of automobiles in China were 2.048 million and 2.238 million respectively, with the production and sales decreasing by 45.8% and 42% respectively.
At present, more than 100 factories in Europe and America have stopped working, and the development of their automobile industry has also come to a standstill.
In this case, car companies have also started a new round of structural adjustment and personnel changes. However, judging from all kinds of news coming out at present, this kind of personnel change has not only appeared in front-line employees, but also in the top management of car companies.
▲ List of senior executives of global car companies in 2020
As can be seen from the above table, these car companies have both foreign big-name car companies and independent and cutting-edge car-making companies. The wave of executive turnover covers a wide range, which can be described as a global wave of executive turnover.
From the company's point of view, there are companies with poor operating conditions such as Zotye and Dongfeng Renault, but there are also companies with improved sales such as Great Wall, Audi and Honda. For example, the sales volume of Great Wall Motor increased slightly by 0.69% in 20 19, but it still lost sales talents.
Judging from the positions of retired executives, the lowest position of these retired personnel is also the general manager of the department, and the vice president, regional president and even global president have changed. For example, Ford has booked the next global CEO in advance, which shows that the senior management position of automobile companies is not stable under the current circumstances.
In addition, it should be noted that the term of office of retired executives of many car companies is very short. For example, the president of Audi China has only been in office for nine months, and many new car companies have not worked for more than two years. Due to the continuous influence of the cold winter in the automobile market, the change frequency of automobile enterprise executives is getting higher and higher.
Second, Audi GM replaced the president of China? Ford Hyundai global CEO change
In 20 19, the global auto market continued to decline, and foreign big-name auto companies were not spared. Sales of GM, Ford and other car companies declined significantly, so many car companies made the decision to replace the top.
As China is still the largest automobile consumption market in the world, the focus of many automobile companies is still in China, and the president of overseas automobile companies in China is the most frequently changed position recently.
A few days ago, Audi China China issued the latest personnel transfer order, and Gaby-Luise, president of Audi China District? Wüst) will be transferred to the leadership position at the headquarters of Volkswagen Group, and a Shi Hao (? Werner? Paul. Eichhorn) will return to China as the president of Audi China.
▲ Seok-Ho Ahn (Tuyuan. com)
Wu has worked in BMW Group for 20 years and is one of the veterans of BMW Brilliance Beijing Sales Company. 2065 438+04-2065 438+08 left the German camp, and successively served as the global chief operating officer of finidi and Hongkong, England, and the head of global sales and operation of Yokohama, Nissan Group.
20 18 returned to the German camp and served as the head of sales business in Chinese mainland and Hongkong at Audi headquarters. On June 20 12, he was also the head of joint venture project management in China market at Audi headquarters. Last July 1, she officially became the president of Audi China.
The transfer is less than one year since she became the president of Audi China. Some media believe that she was transferred because of Audi's poor performance in the China market.
▲ Wu (Tuyuan. com)
Previously, Audi had been the sales champion of high-end brands in China, but in 20 19, Audi was surpassed by Mercedes-Benz and BMW respectively. Seok-Ho Ahn, who is newly appointed, will shoulder the heavy responsibility of strategic upgrading of Audi China, and the urgent need to increase the share of Audi brand in the high-end car market in China will become Seok-Ho Ahn's top priority.
In addition to European car companies replacing their heads in China, American car companies are also actively replacing their heads in China.
Last month, GM announced that since April 1 day, 2020, the current president of GM China, Qian Huikang (Matt? Tsien) will be the global chief technology officer; Julian, senior vice president of international operations? Blissett) will be the president of GM China Company, managing all GM's business in China market.
20 14 10/day Qian Wellcome took over as the global executive vice president of GM and the president of GM China. Under his leadership, GM's business in China has achieved rapid development. From 20 14 to 20 17, GM's sales in China continued to grow. In addition, Qian Huikang was also
▲ Qian Huikang (Tuyuan. com)
Although GM's sales in China have declined in recent two years, in 20 19, GM's sales in China market were about 3.09 million vehicles, which was about 15% lower than the 3.64 million vehicles in 20 18.
However, GM China said that this high-level change is based on long-term adjustment and short-term market conditions. But what is certain is that Barry, the new president of GM China, will face heavy sales pressure.
As GM's new global chief technology officer, Qian Huikang will lead GM's current electrification transformation.
Unlike the above-mentioned companies, Ford Motor submitted a document to the US Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC") last month, which showed that James Farley? D.Farley) may replace Jim Hankett (Jim? Hackett) as the next CEO.
▲ james farley (Tuyuan. com)
Although this filing document did not disclose when Ford will determine the new CEO, it also hinted that Hankate may step down early.
20 17 Jim hankett is from mark fields (mark? Fields) took over as CEO of Ford. At that time, the outside world regarded Hankate as Ford's "firefighter".
However, in the whole year of 20 19, Ford's car sales decreased by 10% to 5.386 million vehicles, and its revenue decreased by 3% to155.9 billion US dollars (about10.09 trillion yuan), and its net profit plummeted by 97% to only 84 million yuan.
▲ Jim Hankat (primitive network)
Hankat's performance doesn't seem so satisfactory. In this case, it is not difficult for Ford to make such a decision.
If Ford just looks around, then Kia Motors has already taken practical actions. Kia recently replaced Song Haocheng, global president and vice president of global operations (Ho-sung? Song) will be the global president.
▲ Song Haocheng (Tuyuan. com)
This is only part of the senior management changes of foreign car companies, and many car companies also have senior management changes. PSA, Polaris and Honda recently changed their heads in China, and Alfa Romeo recently changed their heads in Europe.
In addition, Tesla has left two executives this year, Kevin, vice president of Tesla Super Factory Construction? Ka Secter and production director Jia Tingde? Dhillon announced his resignation this year, and both of them have worked in Tesla for more than 7 years. At present, Tesla has not explained the departure of these two people.
It can be seen that under the double influence of the cold winter in the auto market and the epidemic situation in COVID-19, overseas big-name car companies have begun to let go and start to make changes to the company's senior staff for better development. However, it will take time to prove whether this measure can work.
Second, the general manager of Guangqi Honda was transferred? Faw joint venture executives get together to change posts
In 20 19, although the domestic auto market declined as a whole, the performance of joint venture vehicles was still relatively strong, and Volkswagen even achieved a strong performance of double growth in operating income and profits last year.
However, despite the strong performance of joint venture car companies in China, some joint venture car companies have made high-level adjustment decisions.
This high-level personnel change, Honda not only replaced the person in charge in China, but also replaced the Japanese person in charge of Guangqi Honda. In February this year, Guangqi Honda announced that Moriyama Keying will succeed Sato Liyan as the general manager of Guangqi Honda Automobile Co., Ltd. and the general manager of Guangqi Honda Automobile Sales Co., Ltd. from April 1 2020.
▲ Sato Liyan (Tuyuan. com)
Rihiko Sato started working in China in 2003, when he was in charge of sales at Guangqi Honda. He left China in 2008 and was appointed as the head of Honda's China business office four years later. 20 16 April, Ryuhiko Sato returned to China again to replace Taixiu Shuiye Caixiang as the general manager of Guangqi Honda.
Honda said that this adjustment is only a normal personnel adjustment. At present, Honda is adjusting its global executive organization structure and operating mechanism.
Another Japanese company in China, FAW Toyota, recently carried out high-level personnel transfer. Wang Gang, the executive deputy general manager of FAW Toyota Motor Co., Ltd., will be transferred to the personnel department of FAW Group, and Huang Yong, the personnel department of FAW Group, will take over as the executive deputy general manager of FAW Toyota Motor Co., Ltd.
Wang Gang witnessed the growth of FAW Toyota. As early as 2002, when FAW Group cooperated with Toyota Motor, Wang Gang was the leader of the preparatory group. In 2006, Wang Gang became the executive deputy general manager of FAW Toyota Motor Co., Ltd., and has been serving since then.
▲ Wang Gang (Tuyuan. com)
FAW-Volkswagen has also made personnel adjustments. At the beginning of this year, the relevant person in charge of FAW-Volkswagen Public Relations Department revealed to the media that Hu Shaohang, deputy general manager of FAW-Volkswagen Audi Sales Division, would be seconded to the brand public relations department of FAW Group to support the work of Hongqi. Zhang Qiang, general manager of FAW-Volkswagen South China Brand Sales Division, will return to FAW-Volkswagen Audi as deputy general manager.
Hu Shaohang became the Deputy General Manager of Audi Sales Division from 2065438 to July 2007. During his tenure, he was mainly responsible for marketing, public relations and marketing promotion. In 20 18, FAW-Volkswagen Audi experienced several months of sales decline, but under the leadership of Hu Shaohang, FAW-Volkswagen Audi still successfully defended its luxury brand sales champion.
▲ Hu Shaohang (Tuyuan. com)
This time, Hu Shaohang's transfer to Hongqi brand may also show his successful experience in luxury car sales. Last year, the sales volume of Hongqi * * * exceeded 654.38+million vehicles, and this year it has achieved three consecutive increases. Hongqi's move may be to further impact the high-end market.
All three joint ventures have made internal personnel adjustments, while Dongfeng Renault has experienced the resignation of senior executives. A few days ago, some media broke the news that Hong Hao, vice president and marketing minister of Dongfeng Renault, had officially left his post.
Hong Hao previously worked in Dongfeng Nissan for 15 years, and served as the deputy director of the general manager's office, the deputy director of the sales department, the deputy director of the after-sales department, the marketing director of the southern district of Dongfeng Nissan's passenger car marketing headquarters, the full-time deputy director of Dongfeng Nissan's sales headquarters and the head of Qichen Business Department.
20 18, 10, Hong Hao officially joined Dongfeng Renault. Dongfeng Renault hopes that Hong Hao can use the experience of market work to help Dongfeng Renault return to the main track.
▲ Hong Hao (Tuyuan. com)
However, in 20 19, Dongfeng Renault's new car sales in China were only18,600, down 63% year-on-year, making it the brand with the most serious decline in sales among French cars.
Such a bleak result also proves that Hong Hao's attempt at Dongfeng Renault was unsuccessful, and Hong Hao also said in an interview with the media that the main reason for leaving the company was the difference in business philosophy with Renault.
Generally speaking, the personnel changes at the top of joint venture car companies are not obvious. The personnel changes of Guangqi Honda, FAW Toyota and FAW-Volkswagen Audi are all internal adjustments. Only the executives of Dongfeng Renault chose to leave, which is mainly related to the bleak sales of Dongfeng Renault.
Third, the high-level of Qiruixing Road frequently changes? Weilai executives join the Great Wall.
Since the winter of 20 19, the overall automobile market has declined, the prices of joint venture car companies with competitive advantages have been declining, and the market share of independent brands has been declining, which actually has a more serious impact on independent car companies.
Recently, Chery Automobile announced that Jia Yaquan, vice president of Chery and general manager of Chery brand marketing center, no longer served as general manager of Xingtu brand marketing center, and Chen joined the general manager of Xingtu brand marketing center.
20 1 1 18 10. In October, Chery released a brand-new high-end brand EXEED Xingtu as the general manager of Xingtu brand marketing center, but after half a year, he chose to leave, and three months later, Jia, the executive deputy general manager of Xingtu marketing center, also chose to leave.
In this case, Jia Yaquan, vice president of Chery and general manager of Chery brand marketing center, had to be the general manager of Xingtu brand marketing center.
However, Jia Yaquan did not achieve good results in sales. According to third-party data, in 2065438+2009, the sales volume of two models of Star Way TX/TXL was less than 20,000, while the expected target of Star Way was 65438+100000.
Chen, a new employee, served as vice president and marketing director of Dongfeng Renault from 2065 438+06. 05. Under his leadership, Dongfeng Renault sold 46,800 vehicles from 2065,438+065,43810-August, up 3 1 1% year-on-year.
▲ Chen (Tuyuan. com)
At present, the high-level adjustment of Xingtu brand is frequent, and the internal system has not yet been formed, which faces great challenges in marketing promotion and channel construction. Chen's arrival will undertake the marketing construction of Xingtu brand.
As one of the representatives of independent car companies, Great Wall Motor has also undergone high-level changes recently. Li Hexing, deputy general manager of Great Wall Motor Sales Company, recently joined Qoros, but the two sides have not yet made an official response to this matter.
Despite the brain drain, Great Wall Motor's sales last year were still remarkable. Great Wall Motor delivered nearly 6.5438+0.06 million new cars worldwide, up 0.69% year-on-year. In such a severe domestic situation, it still achieved a small increase.
Some people choose to leave, others choose to join. Recently, some media reported that Zhao, the former vice president of Weilai Automobile User Center, has joined Great Wall Motor as the general manager of Great Wall Sales Company User Center.
Generally speaking, the current personnel flow of Great Wall Motor is relatively stable, and there have been no frequent personnel changes in the near future.
In addition, Zotye Auto, which is deeply mired in bankruptcy rumors, has also made high-level personnel changes in the near future. On March 16, Zotye Automobile Co., Ltd. announced that Deng Xiaoming, the company's vice president, resigned as the company's vice president for personal reasons.
▲ Statement issued by Zotye Company (source network)
Deng Xiaoming once held senior management positions in Ford Motor Company, Saturn Company, Chongqing Changan Automobile Company, Beiqi Foton Company and Chongqing Xiaokang Group, and joined Zotye Automobile Company as vice president in August 18.
In 20 19, zotye automobile was involved in many lawsuits, and in June of 5438+00, it was also deeply rumored to be bankrupt. On October 20th, 654381this year, Zotye Automobile released its 20 19 performance forecast, which showed that Zotye Automobile sold 1 16600 vehicles in 20/kloc-0, a year-on-year decrease of over 50%. The company's net profit loss is about 6 billion to 9 billion yuan, and the profit in the same period last year is about 800 million yuan.
This series of poor performances and possible crises at any time may also be the reason why Deng Xiaoming chose to resign.
With the impact of the cold winter and epidemic, many domestic independent car companies have changed their marketing directors, which is also a response for car companies to further increase sales.
Four, nine new car executives leave? Many people return to traditional car companies.
In 20 19, many new car-making companies began to deliver normally, but in terms of overall sales, the sales volume of new car-making companies was still very low. Weilai, which has the largest sales volume among new car-making companies, only sold more than 20,000 new cars.
Since the beginning of this year, the sales of these car companies have become more difficult, and at the same time they have fallen into financial problems, which has also led to the phenomenon that many car companies in new car companies leave their jobs.
At the beginning of March this year, Xpeng Motors said that Gu, vice president of autonomous driving R&D, resigned from the company for personal development and family reasons, and Xpeng Motors' autonomous driving team was led by Wu Xinzhou, vice president.
▲ Gu Lijun (Tuyuan. com)
Gu Lijun worked at Google, AMD and Tesla. In 20 17, with the influx of domestic new car companies in silicon valley, she joined Xpeng Motors and became the vice president of autonomous driving research and development.
However, after working for two years, the automatic driving system of Xpeng Motors production car is still based on Bosch's scheme, and there is no breakthrough beyond the industry average, and Gu also left Xpeng Motors at this time. The reason may only be clear to the parties themselves.
Tucki is not the only new automobile manufacturing company whose executives have left. Liu Liqun, general manager of Weimar Automobile Tourism Division, also left last month. Weimar responded that this is a normal personnel change. At present, Weimar is making normal adjustments to the department structure according to the needs of business development in order to better optimize the talent structure.
Another head player who built a new car, Weilai Automobile, came close. Last month, some media said that Zhu Jiang, vice president of Weilai Automobile User Development, would formally step down as vice president and become a consultant. Zhu Jiang also responded by saying that he would stay until May and leave after the handover.
▲ Zhu Jiang (Tuyuan. com)
Zhu Jiang used to be vice president of brand management of MINI China, vice president of brand marketing of Amazon Kindle, vice president of BMW China and deputy general manager of Lexus China. 20 17 joined weilai, mainly responsible for weilai's user operation business.
After two years of hard work, the user section has become a unique advantage section of Weilai, and Weilai has a large number of die-hard fans. Zhu Jiang's departure may have a certain impact on Weilai's user development and brand marketing.
In addition, Huang, senior vice president of Weilai, who is in charge of the power engineering team, will also leave Weilai after his term ends on June 30.
Huang used to be the deputy general manager of the New Energy Division, and joined Weilai in March 20 15. After joining Weilai, he was responsible for the research and development of intelligent driving technology, but since then he has been mainly responsible for power engineering business. On June 5438+ 10 last year, he was promoted to senior vice president of Weilai, reporting directly to CEO Li Bin.
▲ Huang (Tuyuan. com)
Weilai recently announced through an employee letter that it will adjust the electric power engineering department, and all business lines of this department will be integrated according to functions within Weilai, mainly including: battery system business will be reported to Li Bin, motor research and development will be transferred to Weilai Parts Company, and vehicle control and chassis control teams will be merged into vehicle development.
A person familiar with the matter said that Huang was in charge of ADAS (intelligent driving) related business in Weilai, but later left. This motor research and development will also be dismantled and assigned to XPT (Wei Ran Electric Power Company), which may be unacceptable to him.
In order to save money, Weilai's business system has been continuously integrated and optimized, and long-term investment has also been cut. These reasons may be the reasons why two senior executives of Weilai recently announced their departure. In addition, not only the two vice presidents left Weilai, but also Zhao, vice president of user center, left Weilai last year and joined Great Wall Motor this year.
The head player of the new car company has experienced high-level changes, and other players have not avoided this problem. He Zhong Automobile, Horizon Automobile, Bojun Automobile, and Zero Run have also seen the resignation of senior executives recently.
At the beginning of March, Deng Ling, former general manager of He Zhong Automobile Brand Public Relations Center and vice president of marketing company, joined SAIC Chase as deputy director of brand public relations and strategy department.
▲ Deng Ling (Tuyuan. com)
Deng Ling used to be the sales supervisor in Changan Ford and Dongfeng Citroen. 2065438+Joined He Zhong New Energy in July 2008 as the general manager of brand public relations center and vice president of marketing company.
At present, United Auto has just released its second production car, Nezha U, which is in a critical period of marketing, and Deng Ling's departure will definitely have a certain impact on Nezha.
Xiang Dongping, one of Skycar's iron triangles, also left Skycar in February, and officially became the vice president of Hyundai Motor Group (China) and the deputy general manager and sales director of Beijing Hyundai on March 23rd, mainly responsible for Beijing Hyundai's marketing and marketing network.
Joined Shanghai Volkswagen Co., Ltd. to Dongping 1998, and began to serve as the senior director of Skoda brand sales in February 2008; 20 10 was promoted to executive director and senior sales director of Dongping Volkswagen brand, and began to be fully responsible for the sales, channels and after-sales of Volkswagen brand in China market.
▲ Xiang Dongping (Tuyuan Net)
From 20 10 to 20 15, it has created sales records of several models such as Tiguan, LaVida and Passat for Dongping, and promoted the annual sales of Volkswagen brand to reach 6.5438+0.5 million.
In the next two years, he moved between SAIC and Volvo. On June 20 17, he officially became the co-founder, director and chief marketing officer of Skycar. In more than two years of Skycar, Xiang Dongping planned to develop the marketing business of Skycar's high-end brands on the one hand; On the other hand, strive to promote the quality and technical strength of Skycar.
However, looking at Xiang Dongping's resume, it is not difficult to find that his achievements are concentrated during his tenure in the traditional automobile industry, which may be the reason why he returned to the traditional automobile enterprise.
At present, some senior executives of Bojun Automobile, which is in financial difficulties, have left. Chen, who just joined Xingtu brand, just left Bojun Automobile at the beginning of this year. Chen once had a brilliant record in Dongfeng Renault, but he didn't do much in Bojun Automobile for more than a year. At this stage, Bojun is in a "money shortage", so it is not surprising that Chen left.
In addition, Zhao Gang, vice president of Zero Run, another new car-making company, announced on the social platform on the evening of March 3 1 that he had left Zero Run for personal reasons.
Zhao Gang works in Huawei 18 and is the head of overseas business of Glory brand. 20 17 officially joined the zero-run car. After joining Zero Run Automobile, Zhao Gang was mainly responsible for the strategic planning, product planning, marketing and sales service of Zero Run Automobile.
▲ Zhao Gang (Tuyuan. com)
S0 1, the first car of the zero-run car, was officially launched on June 20 19. S0 1 Because of niche positioning, there is no obvious advantage in price, and the market performance after listing is quite different from the official expectation, so the delivery time of this car is delayed again and again. The sales volume in 20 19 is far from the original forecast of 65438.
After the rise of emerging car companies, in order to quickly enter the automobile industry, many emerging car companies have hired people from traditional car companies with high salaries. In order to achieve better ideals and better treatment conditions, many staff of traditional car companies have also entered new car companies.
However, as time went on, problems such as funds, management and products of new car companies began to leak out, and many executives of traditional car companies began to return to traditional car companies. The new car company is facing the most difficult moment.
Conclusion: Car companies urgently need to boost sales and spend the cold winter.
At present, domestic and foreign countries are still affected by the COVID-19 epidemic, and the development of the global automobile industry has also stagnated. After the epidemic, car companies need to improve their own structural system in order to develop better, and changing coaches has become the only choice for car companies.
A good leader can really change the state of a team. In order to boost sales, many car companies have changed their top management, looking for more qualified leaders to lead the company forward.
In the long-term development of the automobile industry, there are indeed many successful cases, which is also the source of confidence for car companies to choose to change their top management. However, this is not a panacea, and improper employment may lead to a more serious crisis.
As for what will happen to these companies after the change of leaders, it will take time to prove, but what is certain is that with the continuous impact of the cold winter on car companies, the change of car company executives will continue to happen.
This article comes from car home, the author of the car manufacturer, and does not represent car home's position.