Text/Wang Xinxi
According to a report by 36Kr, Huawei issued relevant personnel adjustment documents, and Yu Chengdong stepped down as CEO of Huawei Device BG and still retained the position of chairman of Terminal BG. He Gang, former COO of Huawei Device BG, took over as CEO of Huawei Device BG.
In this job adjustment, Yu Chengdong's work focus may no longer focus on the front line of mobile phones, but the new business focus is not explained. According to people close to Huawei, it is a signal that this adjustment will focus more on the automotive business. But the problem is that as early as September 21, 2023, Yu Chengdong stepped down as CEO of Che BU.
In short, now the CEO of the car BU and the terminal is not him, Yu Chengdong has lost the title of the number one, of which the terminal is pulled up by Yu Chengdong, although the car BU is not completely pulled up by Yu Chengdong, but the car BU turned into a profit because of the terminal's smart car business.
What is the reason behind this sudden resignation?
Because of Yu Chengdong's fighting style, he is always passionate and full of fighting spirit at the press conference, and if he wants to compete for the first place, whether it is the mobile phone business or the automobile business, it has not yet been completely successful. has not really won the first place, so let it go, which is not in line with Yu Chengdong's personality. Yu Chengdong said that he was 53 years old two years ago, and there were 7 years before he retired.
According to people close to Huawei, Yu Chengdong's resignation may be a signal to focus more on the automotive business. Huawei's mobile phone business has recovered to the first place and entered a stable track, but the automotive business is still full of challenges, and the competition in the automotive market is far greater than that of the mobile phone market. From BYD to Tesla, Wei Xiaoli, Xiaomi, there are many powerful opponents.
In particular, Lei Jun has now put his main energy into the car-making business, and the mobile phone business has been handed over to Lu Weibing, at the Beijing Auto Show, it has been in the limelight for a while, and it has become Lei Jun's personal show, which has a certain stimulation for Huawei, and Huawei may need to have the same corresponding arrangement.
If Yu Chengdong takes into account the two lines of the car BU and the terminal at the same time, his energy will be limited, and it will be difficult for the two-line operation to take into account the cruel competition on the automobile battlefield.
Yu Chengdong's resignation appeared in the M7 highway collision and burning accident in the world, the time node of the surging public opinion, the M7 car accident had a great impact on Huawei's brand power, and perhaps the internal saw the damage caused by the brand. And Yu Chengdong's marketing style is too aggressive, "it's hard to hit if you want to", "I have never burned the car, and the car of my friends burns every day." "Regulations need to be adjusted, otherwise it is not worthy of the far lead of intelligent driving", "mobile phone holders are outdated, and friends are not good at navigation", these marketing words offended peers, caused dissatisfaction with the industry and consumers, and brought negative effects to Huawei's brand.
Therefore, this accident, many people say that the world and Huawei. Yu Chengdong stepped down this time, although he did not say it to the outside world, he also had the intention of taking the blame for this public opinion.
Huawei's initial strategy was to focus on HI cars, empowerment, and Bosch in the era of new energy vehicles. For example, Beiqi Jihu and Changan AVATAR, Huawei is only responsible for the research and development of the car machine and intelligent driving, and I don't care about the rest. If something happens, you can carry it yourself.
Yu Chengdong is taking the smart car model, although the smart car is not equal to the end of the car, but in the eyes of the outside world is the Huawei brand, Huawei not only to develop the car wit and intelligent driving, but also to participate in the research and development of the three-electric chassis. Therefore, in this mode, Huawei is deeply involved in car manufacturing, and in the event of accidents and product problems, Huawei may be responsible for the product.
And Yu Chengdong's leading propaganda has made many car owners blindly believe in Huawei's intelligent driving, which means that once there is an accident, it may be infinitely magnified, you can't control it this time, what will you do next time?
The possibility of building a car yourself?
And if Yu Chengdong goes behind the scenes and makes cars all in, if this kind of feudal officials go all out, does that mean that Huawei's car business will change dramatically?
Therefore, the signal behind this is that, on the one hand, Huawei's architecture is upgraded, Yu Chengdong is a member of Huawei's board of directors and executive director, which can be understood as a super executive at the top of the tower, but it may no longer be Yu Chengdong who shows his face on the front line, and there may be a new model in the automotive business.
Because Huawei's current gameplay advantage lies in intelligent driving, the disadvantage is that the product line is too miscellaneous, such as this M7 accident, the product model is different, and the core components involve multiple different suppliers, resulting in the high cost of a single car, and the quality control level cannot ensure foolproof, and various uncontrollable factors also cause the more product lines, the easier it is to be confused.
Now after the release of Xiaomi SU7, it is in the limelight and has become a catfish in the new energy automotive industry, which has more or less caused a certain stimulus to Huawei. After all, Xiaomi's car manufacturing is different from Huawei, and the whole process of factory construction, equipment, research and development, brand, sales, and after-sales is Xiaomi itself.
Huawei has never built its own cars, but it has been trying to draw a clear line with the question. If you want to be the Android of the automotive industry, the current model may still be difficult. Therefore, if Huawei comes out of a new model, or even builds a car itself, this possibility still exists. Judging from various signs, last year, Changan took a 30% stake in Huawei's car BU, and at the beginning of the year, it was rumored that Huawei's car BU was going to become independent, which means that Huawei is clearing the way for itself to build a car.
"When it was sold, it was Huawei, and when it went wrong, it was Thalys. This is a sentence that many netizens have been saying recently, in fact, although this sentence is eye-catching, it directly points to the core of the uncontrollable problem caused by Huawei's current car-making model. In fact, Huawei will either provide technical services and do Bosch, or it will build cars by itself, and the uncontrollable factors will be in Huawei's own hands, so it will not be so passive.
Huawei needs to train the next Yu Chengdong in advance
Yu Chengdong has been in charge of Huawei's terminal business for 13 years, and he is an absolute official. Huawei's mobile phone and smart car business is very dependent on Yu Chengdong's personal influence and combat effectiveness. Previously, it was rumored that Yu Chengdong had been the CEO of the terminal for too long, and according to the system, he would have stepped down in the first two years, but because of the rapid decline in the sanction terminal, he could not do without Yu Chengdong, and he would have to step down after stabilization. Today, Huawei's mobile phone terminal business has basically stabilized.
Yu Chengdong's personal ability is obvious to all, but Huawei needs to do a good job in cultivating a successor before Yu Chengdong retires.
In many domestic companies, it is difficult to create a generation to fight the country, but it is even more difficult for the second generation to defend the country.
From Huawei's point of view, Ren Zhengfei is in a state of retirement, Yu Chengdong in 1969 is now 55 years old, and there is a high probability that he will retire in 5~6. Therefore, before retirement, it is an important issue for Huawei to train terminal successors and push them to the forefront. This can be seen from the division of labor that He Gang mainly undertook to talk about products at the press conference.
How to cultivate a new successor team like Yu Chengdong who dares to challenge the impossible and has combat effectiveness is very important for Huawei's future.
Epilogue:
The above is purely the author's analysis of the possibility of Yu Chengdong stepping down as CEO. Yu Chengdong has worked at Huawei for 30 years, growing up in a difficult environment, where he participated in the research and development of basic products such as switches, base stations, and communication equipment, and played an important role in the development of Huawei's mobile phone business and smart car business with his forward-looking, marketing capabilities, and execution capabilities. Later, he turned the tide and led Huawei's mobile phone business to return as the king, and made large-scale shipments of 500,000 cars of its own brand, and stood firm in the high-end luxury brand.
But its aggressive marketing style has also encountered widespread controversy. In general, Yu Chengdong is a controversial person, but also a capable person, Yu Chengdong's marketing style needs to be converged in the future, the smart car business may have major changes, and new successors need to be cultivated. This may be the signal behind the resignation of the terminal CEO this time.
Author: Wang Xinxi, Senior Reviewer of TMT This article is not reproduced without permission