Finally, I lost my view of this hot potato.
Editor’s note: This article is from “Future Car Daily” (WeChat public ID: auto-time), author: NIU Xiao Tong.
Author | Niu Xiaotong
Edit | Liang Chen
Li Feng, who once led Chery to become a “self-independent brother”, now has a new place.
September 9, Modern Auto Announces Li Feng was appointed as the vice president of Hyundai Motor Group (China) and the general manager of Dongfeng Yueda Kia. Li Feng will officially take office on September 16 and will be responsible for the management of Kia Motors’ local production, sales and planning operations in China.
He will be the first Chinese CEO in the history of Dongfeng Yueda Kia.
Before joining Dongfeng Yueda Kia, Li Feng has been in the automotive industry for 23 years. The last position is the vice president of Baoneng Automobile and the CEO of Qoros.
Sales Wizards
The relationship between Li Feng and the automotive industry began in 1980 and he studied automotive manufacturing at Anhui Institute of Technology (now Hefei University of Technology).
In 1996, Li Feng joined Beiqi Futian after studying at the Anhui Tractor Factory and the National Machinery Industry Cadre. In the 7 years of Beiqi Foton, he served as the marketing manager of the marketing company and the director of the technical center. Later, he was promoted to the deputy general manager of Beiqi Foton Motor and the general manager of the marketing company.
Li Feng’s most relevant resume in the industry, starting with Chery Automobile.
In 2005, Li Feng joined Chery Automobile as the general manager of Chery Sales. From here, Li Feng’s marketing ability can be demonstrated.
Northern News has reported, Li Feng implemented a series of marketing measures in Chery, including sub-network sales, cancellation of the regional system, and implementation of supervision.System, etc., built the initial marketing framework for Chery.
In 2005, Li Feng led Chery to achieve 118% annual sales growth of 189,200 units. Compared with the annual sales volume of 85,000 vehicles in 2004, Li Feng became famous by marketing and led Chery Automobile to attack the status of a brother.
Yi Tongyao, chairman of Chery, once commented: “Before Li Feng, Chery had no marketing.”
In the following two years, Chery Automobile’s annual sales reached 305,000 and 380,800 respectively.
In August 2008, Li Feng, who had outstanding achievements in Chery, chose to leave, and joined Beijing Hyundai the following year as the deputy general manager.
In 2013, Li Feng was promoted to the president of BAIC, coordinating BAIC self-service, Beijing Benz and Beijing Hyundai.
Deep into Guanzhi
After Li Feng took charge of Beiqi for five years, in early 2018, Baoneng Group, which started from insurance and real estate business, took a stake in Qoros Auto. Then the company’s personnel structure changed dramatically. Li Feng joined Baoneng at this time as Baoneng Automobile. Executive Vice President and CEO of Qoros Auto.
After joining Baoneng, Li Feng’s sales ability could not be reproduced. At the Beijing International Auto Show in April 2018, Li Feng, who made his first public appearance after joining Baoneng, set a target, and the annual sales volume hopes to reach more than 80,000. “For Baoneng, how to quickly resurrect Qoros is the core of all current work.” Li Feng said at the time .
But Li Feng’s goal was not completed at the end. According to statistics, the actual total sales volume of Guanzhi Automobile was 63,000.
After entering Baoji, Li Feng had a series of personnel reforms. The Daily Economic News has reported that, Li Feng After joining Baoneng Automobile, a round of personnel rectification was quickly started, and many senior executives of BAIC background were recruited, including the former vice president of Beiqi Co., Ltd., the dean of Beiqi Research Institute, Yan Xuebin, the former vice president of BAIC and the party committee of the sales company. Secretary Cai Jianjun.
But the familiar team did not bring practical help to Li Feng’s work. At that time, the car was already a hot potato.
The Qoros Auto, which was born in 2007, has only two models, the Guanzhi 3 and the Qoros 5, and the latest model is still available at the end of 2016.
In November 2018, Qoros Auto had encountered 40 dealers to jointly defend their rights, and the contradiction between Guanzhi and dealers was exposed for the first time.Just five months later, in April 2019, due to the failure to realize the new car delivery plan of Guanzhi Automobile and the lack of basic maintenance parts, the Guanzhi dealers who suffered serious losses gathered at the booth of the Shanghai Auto Show, Defend rights.
Since July 2018, Qoros Auto officially no longer publishes monthly sales figures. However, according to data from the Association, Guanzhi had only sold more than 800 vehicles in the first quarter of 2019.
The Future Auto Daily (ID: auto-time) learned from insiders that more than 95% of Guanzhi’s sales in 2019 were purchased by Baoneng’s car rental company, which is equivalent to Guanzhi. Self-produced and sold.
In February of this year, Guanzhi officially announced the announcement of the CEO update. Mr. Li Feng, the executive vice president of Baoneng Automobile, no longer serves as the CEO (President) of Qoros. The former Nissan-Renault Alliance global new energy director Yajima and male take over. At the same time, the chief operating officer, contact technical officer and a vice president position were held by executives from Nissan and Infiniti, and Japanese executives took over the management of Qoros.
In early July, some media reported that Li Feng had left Bao Neng. The Future Auto Daily (ID: auto-time) learned from relevant sources that Li Feng actually left his job around May of this year, and the company was very dissatisfied with the marketing results of Li Feng during his tenure. According to informed sources, before and after Li Feng’s resignation, many members of the Beiqi background who brought in Baotong’s time also left.
Can you go to the next city?
Leaving Guanzhi and joining Dongfeng Yueda Kia, the challenges facing Li Feng are still not small.
Under the background of the down market, the French-Korean-style car has become the main force behind the market decline in the past two years. According to statistics, after the sales of Korean cars in China reached 1.79 million units in 2016, sales in 2017 dropped 36% to 1.14 million units. The sales of Korean cars in 2018 did not improve significantly, only slightly increased. 3.5% to 1.18 million units.
After sales of 650,000 vehicles in China in 2016, sales of Dongfeng Yueda Kia in the Chinese market began to decline sharply. In 2017, Dongfeng Yueda Kia’s sales in China fell 45% to 359,500 units, and the annual sales target of 400,000 units was not completed.
The year of 2019 is not over yet, but the situation of Korean cars in the Chinese market is still not optimistic. In the first five months of this year, Dongfeng Yueda Kia’s cumulative sales volume reached 129,000 units, down 11.4% year-on-year.
Despite the June sales of Dongfeng Yueda Kia increased by 31.9% compared with May, if the total sales volume in the first half of the year is calculated, the cumulative sales volume of Dongfeng Yueda Kia is 163,000. Previously, Dongfeng Yueda Kia lowered its sales target for the whole year of 2019 from 500,000 to 410,000, but still only completed 40% of the target in the first half.
In June, Beijing Business Daily reported, due to falling sales, Dongfeng Yueda Kia 89 The production capacity of 10,000 vehicles is partially idle. The first plant of Dongfeng Yueda Kia in Yancheng, Jiangsu will be discontinued in the same month.
Undoubtedly, welcoming Li Feng will be an arduous task.
Joining Dongfeng Yueda Kia is an opportunity for Li Feng to prove his marketing ability. It is only a comparison of Guanzhi, Dongfeng Yueda Kia is not a hot potato.
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I am Niu Xiaotong, the author of the Future Auto Daily, who is concerned about the dynamics of the automotive industry. Welcome to communicate with me. My WeChat is NEXT0117, please add a note name, position, company.
