*This article is reproduced from the official account of *autocarweekly.

Author: Jiang Xiaohua

On March 23, Geely Automobile released its 2020 financial report, with a revenue of 92.1 billion yuan and a net profit of 5.57 billion yuan, selling 1.32 million cars in the 2020 fiscal year.

Also released during the same period as the financial report was the long-rumored Geely smart electrification brand – Geometry, created with Geely’s vast intelligent evolutionary experience architecture, new capital, and business philosophy. Its first product will be unveiled and available for pre-order at the Shanghai Auto Show and delivered in the fourth quarter.

Starting from the second half of 2020, we have seen that Chinese automobile companies, regardless of their systems, have shown a basic consistency in their approach to intelligent electrification, from Dongfeng Voyah to SAIC IM, from Great Wall Salon to Geely Geometry.

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It is very reasonable to choose to establish a new company to participate in the competition in the new automobile travel industry.

First, internal combustion engines and electrified vehicles will coexist for a long time, and the operational logic differences from product to marketing to user experience services between the two are huge. Maintaining their relative independence is the preferred strategy for companies that have a clear share in the internal combustion engine market.

Second, the new car manufacturers represented by intelligent electrification, which define products centered on software, have huge differences in their internal management and institutional mechanisms compared to traditional automobiles. What impedes many automobile industry giants from making a glorious turn is not the restriction of technology or capital, but their own system and the entrenchment of historical interests.

Third, setting up a new company is a clear path to achieve the simultaneous development of technology and capital in the context of the surging social resources and funds towards the new automobile industry, and the obstacles to capital extension and the changes in valuation logic on the original company and brand are much greater.

Finally, the establishment of a new company has the convenience of central advantages for the entire automobile group to carry out pilot experiments. We can see that Chinese companies are very thorough in their investment in new companies, giving priority to technology, capital, system, and innovation, which are the basic philosophies of these new companies.

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Compared with the path of introducing new products by foreign automobile companies, it can be seen that Chinese automobile companies will at least establish advantages in intelligent electrification in the domestic market, and in the next 20 years, Chinese automobile companies’ domestic market share is expected to maintain steady growth through the speed difference in the advancement of intelligent electric vehicles.

For Geely’s Geometry, the Grand New Architecture has already been recognized by the industry as one of the leading architectures with clear technological advantages based on the world’s latest architecture concepts. Its production is a key step in Geely Automobile’s Blue Geely Action Plan.

In terms of capital, the initial equity design for Geely Automobile Holdings is 51% and Geely Holding Group holds 49% (including employee shares). This information not only indicates that employee equity has already been included in the initial design of DearCC, but also reflects Geely’s open capital philosophy while maintaining its controlling stake in Geely Automobile as a listed company. It is understood that several well-known investment companies have expressed clear intentions to participate in DearCC, and introducing high-quality capital from multiple channels is a fundamental setting for DearCC.

In terms of business segments, automotive products will not be the only business setting for DearCC. Like Nio and Tesla, well-developed new car manufacturing companies, DearCC will retain the possibility of developing the entire ecosystem of the travel industry through the development of intelligent technology and the establishment of user logic.

In the newly unveiled intelligent electrification project, DearCC is a company that has more mature thought on the future development of the industry, is well-prepared, has clear technological reserves and a clear organizational structure.

Geely hopes to build a new type of car enterprise which is equal to traditional car companies in terms of technology maturity and resource reserves and can counter new leading car manufacturers in the industry in terms of institutional mechanism and innovation vitality through DearCC. Geely also hopes that DearCC can represent Chinese car intelligence, new energy technology, and business models in the era of intelligent electrification.

According to insiders, on the same day that DearCC was officially launched, Geely Automobile also released several personnel adjustment documents, which were concentrated in the management level. Li Shufu resigned as the chairman of Geely Automobile Group and concurrently served as the chairman of DearCC. An Conghui, CEO and President of Geely Automobile Group, became the chairman of Geely Automobile Group and CEO of DearCC, and Gan Jiayue, Senior Vice President of Geely Automobile Group, became the CEO of Geely Automobile Group.

In my opinion, this personnel adjustment is the more noteworthy part of the Geely 323 series launch. It is understood that the core of this adjustment to Geely Automobile Group’s management is the newly appointed chairman of Geely Automobile Group and CEO of DearCC, An Conghui. After the adjustment, in addition to managing Geely Automobile Group as a whole, An Conghui will focus mainly on the new DearCC project.

This is a surprising, admirable move and may also provide a classic case for the construction of the management of large Chinese automobile enterprises in both directions.In the lunar year that has just passed, An Conghui, in his New Year’s greeting, expressed the theme of Geely’s boundless development, demonstrating Geely’s open attitude and innovative orientation towards the new era. One particularly important point is Geely’s policy of not limiting talents, and that talent should not limit themselves. Geely will vigorously promote the cultivation, support, and appointment of all kinds of talents.

Unexpectedly, An Conghui himself put this commitment into practice during the establishment of Jidu Auto, even though he has already dedicated himself to Geely for half his life, he truly did not limit himself.

In many of the intelligent electrification projects mentioned in our previous article, the majority of enterprises choose to hire external talent or younger managers within the system as the backbone, with core senior management standing behind to provide support. This choice is understandable; as a reform-oriented project, external monks recite sutras well, and young cadres are full of energy, this is a fact.

However, from another perspective, new projects do mean experimentation and risks for large enterprises, as well as imaginable resistance from within the enterprise. Although all enterprises understand what the success or failure of a new project means for their long-term development in this automotive industry transformation toward unmanned driving and zero emissions, few core enterprise leaders have the courage to directly intervene regardless of whether they are in a minefield or facing a deep chasm.

Li Shufu and An Conghui chose to personally handle Jidu Auto, and Geely’s board of directors approved the application. This bidirectional choice implies at least a few messages:

First, Geely has no reservations about supporting Jidu Auto. Jidu Auto is certainly a company that treads on thin ice, but it is also not a project that Geely is planning to fail. An Conghui personally handling it means that Jidu Auto will receive maximum support at the company resource and process levels.

Second, Geely’s attitude towards future automotive enterprises is still a philosophy of long-termism. Although innovative thinking is undoubtedly the driving force of new automotive enterprises, long-termism is still a pillar philosophy in upgrading industries. An Conghui is one of the best long-distance runners in China’s automotive industry. Jidu Auto, which he is handling, will undoubtedly advance along the path of long-termism.

Third, represented by An Conghui, Geely’s senior management has an enterprising development mindset after experiencing the rapid development of the enterprise over the past five years, rather than a conservative mindset of being a hero.## Overview

Throughout more than 40 years of development history of private enterprises in China, this point is crucial for the fate and development of private enterprises. We have seen many private enterprises fall rapidly after becoming the first in their respective industries in China, or even in the world. One of the core reasons is that the top and middle management, after achieving periodic success, become conservative in their thinking, and even become obstacles to the continuing development of the company. Sometimes, crises such as the one faced by Huawei, can become a spiritual opportunity that many companies that have lost their internal drive are eager for.

Among successful companies with a certain scale, Geely Automobile’s crisis awareness and entrepreneurial culture have been maintained very well under the care of Li Shufu and An Conghui. This time, An Conghui also emphasized this point again to the entire Geely Automobile team with her own choice.

An Conghui’s choice to embark on a new journey in car manufacturing has demonstrated Geely’s development philosophy of no limit and the talent view of Geely that respects non-conformity.

Gan Jiayue, who has taken over the helm of Geely Automobile from An Conghui, is a young management representative of “born and raised” talent from the Geely talent forest plan. He took over as CEO of Geely Automobile, and announced that this old domestic independent brand car manufacturer has entered the era of being operated by an 80s-generation.

Born in 1983, Gan Jiayue joined Geely Automobile after graduating in 2003, and has made outstanding work achievements and contributions in finance, management, procurement, quality management, corporate reform, logistics and other positions.

According to insiders, Gan Jiayue has a practical and efficient work style, and innovative work ideas. In this automobile industry chip scarcity during the COVID-19 pandemic, Gan Jiayue, with his clear and forward-looking thinking and decisive independent decisions, has enabled Geely Automobile to purchase several months more of chip reserves than that of ordinary car companies.

Geely Automobile’s appointment of Gan Jiayue demonstrates its recognition of his personal abilities and leadership charm, as well as a clear message that Geely does not discriminate based on seniority, but mainly selects talents based on their personal abilities and the needs of the company’s development. As far as I know, the younger generation of Geely is very encouraged by this appointment.

Recently, traditional car companies have released their respective strategies for the era of intelligent electrification, with the Volkswagen Group’s electrification strategy release and the challenge thrown to Tesla by Volkswagen Group CEO Diess, receiving the most attention other than that of Xpeng Inc.

In fact, in various industries that have been transformed and remodeled with the internet as the basis, the true opponents of traditional companies have never been new companies such as Tesla and NIO. Traditional car manufacturers have very obvious advantages in most resources and systems.

Their opponents have always been themselves – companies that are bold in breaking through, lifting heavy weights as if they were light, concentrating their efforts to transform, and demanding to stand at the forefront of the industry. Naturally, they will remain the leading roles in the new era of automobiles.

In fact, the biggest and most direct obstacle to the advancement of these companies is a cumbersome personnel system, vested interests entanglement, and thinking habits that have developed over decades of development, which are in opposition to the new industrial logic. Ultimately, it is a human problem.

From this perspective, Li Shufu’s and An Conghui’s arrangement for Ji Ke Automobiles is worth looking forward to. Li doesn’t rely on outsiders to overcome difficulties and reform like a lone warrior fighting the “old men”, nor does he push young people to the forefront of the storm for adventure. Instead, he goes down to tell all Geely people that the past and present, achievements and identity, have never been obstacles to Geely’s progress. Following the times and moving with the tide, Geely always actively pursues, rather than passively changes.

This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.