"Iron Lady" Wang Fengying may become the CEO of Xpeng Motors

Although the penetration rate continues to increase, but the competition in the new energy vehicle market is becoming more and more fierce, on the one hand, the sales of traditional new energy brands led by BYD, Extreme Krypton and Deep Blue are rising, on the other hand, Tesla once again waved the "price butcher knife" after New Year's Day, which makes the new forces that were already in a loss-making state "worse", how to survive 2023, survive the final period opened in 2025, is the common test of all new car companies.

Organizational restructuring and the introduction of new talents are often the choices that many companies will make when facing difficulties.

A few days ago, sources revealed to "Huashan on Sword V" that "(former Great Wall Motor) Wang Fengying will succeed He Xiaopeng as the CEO of Xpeng Motors", the author asked people familiar with Xpeng Motors for verification, although the latter expressed surprise, but at the same time frankly said: "He Xiaopeng is indeed looking for a CEO candidate".

Although the news has not been officially confirmed, it does make sense under the details.

For Xpeng Motors, 2022 should have been a critical year. On the one hand, the past sales ace Xpeng G3, Xpeng P7 and other models are facing replacement; On the other hand, Xpeng Motors expects to upgrade to the high-end through the G9 product and increase gross profit.

However, the actual situation is that due to the rise in raw material prices, supply chain disruptions caused by the epidemic, terminal closures, etc., Xpeng Motors' lowest monthly delivery volume fell to less than 6,000 units last year, and the Xpeng G9, which had high hopes, was also deadlocked due to SKU confusion and price adjustment at the time of listing.

Some experts analyzed that in the early days, the new forces were based on the Internet thinking mode to make products, and iteratively upgraded after launching a single explosive product, but there are essentially differences between automotive products and Internet products, and with the development of the scale of new forces, the number of products increases, and it is necessary to return to the organizational model of automobile enterprises in time from the Internet model.

In other words, if the new forces have no concept of the operation system of the traditional automobile industry and cannot achieve cost control, especially for new power brands such as Xpeng, which are positioned more than home, losing the cost advantage means losing the opportunity to compete with traditional car companies with the same positioning.

Therefore, Xpeng Motors needs more professional automotive personnel to coordinate the planning and operation of the product matrix. In fact, after the failure of the product replacement and G9 launch, He Xiaopeng also realized the internal problems and initiated a series of changes.

In October last year, He Xiaopeng issued an all-staff email, saying that he would adjust the company's organizational structure. In terms of products, Xpeng Motors will establish three virtual product matrix organizations to coordinate around various functions such as marketing, customer service, communication, sales, training, and sales management to ensure a closed-loop of end-to-end responsibility for products (including service products) that are customer- and market-oriented.

In terms of personnel, Xpeng Motors has also reorganized internally. In December, He Xiaopeng himself announced that he would return to Xpeng Motors, focusing on Xpeng Motors' strategic planning, product development, user services and organizational changes, and gradually withdrawing from the daily operations of Xpeng Huitian and Xpeng Pengxing, and Xia Heng also resigned as executive chairman of Xpeng Motors.

It can be said that today's Xiaopeng is in an important period of organizational adjustment and personnel replacement. For He Xiaopeng, professional and senior "car veterans" like Wang Fengying are also needed to provide constructive advice.

According to the data, Wang Fengying is the "veteran" of Great Wall Motor, in 31 years, she has grown from first-line sales to Great Wall Motor's "number two person", with her unique marketing strategy, led Great Wall Motor to win the national sales championship, and is one of the few female presidents of China's automotive industry for decades.

Great Wall Motor insiders revealed that for a long time in the past, Wei Jianjun and Wang Fengying have been in the division of responsibilities: Wei Jianjun focuses on research and development and technology, marketing and external affairs are fully responsible for Wang Fengying, and the projects such as "pickup truck dealership system adjustment", "focusing on SUV categories" and "entering the Russian market" promoted by her have achieved very significant results in the later stage.

In 1996, Great Wall Motor developed the first generation of pickup truck products - Deer pickup truck, although the product is very competitive, but because car companies generally adopt the "consignment system" model at that time (agents help manufacturers sell on credit, only earn commissions, remittance risks are large, and corporate cash flow is not stable). Therefore, Wang Fengying borrowed from the dealer model in the field of home appliances at that time (dealers need to pay money before they can pick up the car, and price and sell it themselves after picking up the car).

This reform not only ensures the stability of payment collection, but also stimulates the sales momentum of dealers. In 1998, the production and sales of Deere pickup trucks reached more than 7,000 units, ranking first in the national pickup truck market for the first time, and for many years thereafter, it ranked first in the pickup truck market.

Then, in 2009, with the persistence of Wang Fengying and the assistance of strategic positioning consulting company Reese, Great Wall Motor established a strategy to focus on the SUV category. This move also made the Great Wall Haval H6 the sales champion in the SUV field for nine consecutive years since 2013, becoming a legend in the Chinese car market.

It is conceivable that if such a legendary executive in the automotive industry can join Xpeng Motors, it will greatly enhance the industry's confidence in the future development and operation of Xpeng Motors.

So, how likely is it that Wang Fengying will join Xiaopeng?

In fact, as early as 2019, Great Wall Motor adjusted its organizational structure and launched the rotating president system, which is equivalent to "collecting rights in disguise". An employee revealed, "The reason for the organizational adjustment is because the management believes that the sales system of the new energy vehicle market has undergone earth-shaking changes, and in order to catch up with BYD and Tesla in new energy, drastic reform is needed." ”

As the creator of the traditional automotive industry sales system, Wang Fengying has become the object of "optimization", in other words, Wang Fengying's choice to leave the Great Wall in 2022 can be said to be forced by the situation.

Regrettably, after resigning as general manager of Great Wall Motor in July last year, Wang Fengying disappeared into the automotive industry. The source said: "Wang Fengying chose to start her own business and focused on strategic consulting. According to the data, Wang Fengying invested in the establishment of Shanghai Xiaohuangya Creative Design Co., Ltd. and Beijing Beagle Internet Technology Company in May 2020.

However, in early July this year, Wang Fengying reappeared on online media as a "mentor", and "made a comeback" in this form, probably hoping to realize the value of life to a greater extent. With more than 30 years of experience, vehicle manufacturing is undoubtedly the best channel for her to realize the value of life.

And the olive branch thrown by He Xiaopeng is such an attractive position for the CEO of Xpeng Motors. You know, when Wang Fengying left Great Wall Motor, the new energy transformation was one of the main reasons. As the head of the new force, Xpeng Motors is still not to be underestimated despite the setbacks last year.

For Wang Fengying, the CEO's authority is large enough for her to play her strengths and add to her illustrious career.

It is worth noting that although it is still unknown whether Wang Fengying will become CEO, He Xiaopeng has already recruited a general from the Geely department. It has been confirmed that Yi Han, a former Geely executive, will join Xpeng Motors after the Spring Festival as vice president, fully responsible for marketing and public relations communications.

According to the data, Yi Han served as the deputy general manager of Geely Automobile Sales Company in 2012, experiencing the key process of Geely's return from multiple brands to a single brand, and was also the humerus minister of the Geely brand's annual sales jumping from 300,000 vehicles to millions.

During his career, Yi Han has worked in Geely, Volvo, Lynk & Co, Smart and other brands, responsible for the brand building of traditional household brands, high-end brands, and new energy high-end brands, and has rich experience in marketing and public relations communication. His addition is bound to bring a new atmosphere to Xpeng Motors.

Of course, no matter how the personnel reform develops, Xpeng's challenges remain. You know, the cost advantage brought by Tesla's large-scale production has gradually become prominent, with a price reduction to obtain 30,000 orders in 3 days, not only Xpeng Motors, but also all domestic new energy vehicle brands are harmless.

Moreover, after traditional car companies with their own industrial advantages like BYD began to make efforts to the high-end market, the survival space of new forces was even more pressing.

As Li Bin said, "There are three stages to go through to do smart electric vehicle entrepreneurship: the first stage is 'team training', which is from the end of 2014 to 2019; the second stage is 'qualifier/group stage', which is almost until 2024, about five years; and after 2025, it will enter the 'final stage'." ”

In fact, in the past year, although the development of Xpeng Motors was not satisfactory, but fortunately it woke up quickly, whether it was the rapid price adjustment of Xpeng G9 after listing, or a series of organizational structure adjustments and the introduction of outstanding talents, all of which reflected He Xiaopeng's open, inclusive, and entrepreneurial spirit of correcting mistakes.

At the beginning of the month, Xpeng Motors announced its delivery results showing that it delivered a total of 11,292 new vehicles in December, an increase of 94% month-on-month. Cumulative deliveries for the year were 120,757 units, up 23% year-on-year. Among them, the delivery volume of Xpeng G9 in December also exceeded 4,000 units for the first time, an increase of 160% month-on-month.

At present, Xpeng Motors' reform has achieved initial results. As for the final appointment, let's wait a little longer for the bullets to fly.

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