When it comes to the foreign executives who "make the most enemies" in The Chinese automotive circle, it must belong to Volkswagen China CEO Feng Sihan, who punched Xu Jiayin and kicked Li Xiang and Li Bin. But the mouth-and-gun Volkswagen executive has begged for his own hardships, and now he is finally leaving the scene. What the hell is going on?
1. Punch Xu Jiayin?
As the head of a giant car company with annual sales of three or four million vehicles, Volkswagen China CEO Feng Sihan changed the impression of many predecessors who were old and heavy, showing a youthful and straightforward personality. Xu Jiayin, who is now mired in the mire, announced at the beginning of last year that Evergrande Automobile's production and sales will reach 5 million units in 2035. For this goal of Boss Xu, the big guys in the auto circle all see through it and don't say it, and Feng Sihan is very dismissive, directly mocking: "If Evergrande produces a toy car, this may be no problem." ”
2. Kick Li want to and Li Bin?
In fact, Feng Sihan did not intend to target Xu Jiayin only, he looked down on the car boss and there were many more. For example, when asked about his views on range-extending technology, Feng Sihan said unabashedly: "Range-extended electric vehicles have certain value from a bicycle perspective, but from the perspective of the whole country and the earth, it is the worst solution." "This is clearly a criticism of the ideal car that sticks to the range-extending technology route. Li Xiang, the ideal founder known for his poisonous tongue, naturally will not eat dumb losses, and publicly "framed" Feng Sihan on Weibo, proposing to use the ideal ONE to directly PK Audi Q7 PHEV.
Later, in an interview with the media, Feng Sihan pointed the spearhead at the much-concerned power exchange route, bluntly saying that the cost of this model was too high and the gain was not worth the loss. This offended two car bosses at the same time, the first being Li Bin. As the leader of the power exchange model, Weilai, founded by Li Bin, was successfully selected into the list of 100 companies that changed the world in Fortune magazine in the United States because of the power exchange model of the separation of vehicle and electricity. The second is Li Shufu, who led Geely into the power exchange track, and after Geely entered the main sail, it concentrated the power exchange business under Lifan.
3. Volkswagen executives beg for help?
To put it nicely, Feng Sihan is straight-talking and fast-talking, saying that it is difficult to hear, he is mouthless, which has caused one storm after another, almost offending half of the car circle. Of course, the automotive circle needs criticism and debate, too much harmony will not compete and progress, especially in the face of major changes that have not occurred in a hundred years. But as a professional manager and Volkswagen China executive, Feng Sihan's direct criticism of competitors' behavior is actually inappropriate. German media reported earlier that Volkswagen Group will replace the head of the Chinese region, and Feng Sihan will leave the scene this year.
Feng Sihan's "resignation" is definitely related to his "big mouth" that does not cover his mouth, but the most important thing is that his business ability is not good. First of all, the ID.series of electric vehicles has performed very poorly in the Chinese market, far below the expectations of the Volkswagen Group. The data shows that the ID. series sold 70,625 vehicles in China last year, which is far from the target of about 100,000 vehicles, not to mention compared with BYD and Tesla, even Wei Xiaoli and other new car-making forces are not comparable. The main reason for the sales difficulties of the ID. series is that the "gold content" of the Volkswagen brand has decreased significantly in the era of electric vehicles, but as the head of the Chinese market, Feng Sihan is also unable to escape the blame.
Secondly, Volkswagen's basic fuel vehicles in China continue to decline, and Feng Sihan's ability is questioned. Feng Sihan, who became CEO of Volkswagen China in 2019, sold 4.23 million units in China that year, at its peak, but then plummeted, falling by about 10% in 2020 to 3.8 million units, and 14% in 2021 to only 3.3 million units. Although Volkswagen still maintains the title of the first joint venture brand, compared with the Japanese Toyota, Honda, and the independent Geely and great wall strides forward, Volkswagen is on the downhill road.