XPeng G9 made unprecedented changes to the configuration table on the second day of its launch. Although the whole process was outrageous, the result was ultimately a win, and everything returned to calm as the weekend approached.

As a former insider, I had a rough idea of the product strength of this car more than half a year ago, and always had a strong confidence in it. Therefore, I was very heartbroken to see the encounter of XPeng G9 after its launch.

I believe that any employee who has worked hard for this company will have the same feeling. Although I am not a frontline car engineer, I can imagine that it is really uncomfortable to see the new car that one has been working hard for years to be criticized uniformly by the media and users on the first day of its launch because of sales policies, and there is no bright reservation data that should have been reported within 24 hours.

(Announcement: official pricing list for XPeng G9)

But apart from helplessness, there is no other way. Whether a company of several thousand or tens of thousands of people does well or not, it is not up to one or two people to decide. The criticism of everyone should not be too focused on a certain person or a certain product, but should have a more systematic reflection.

According to the usual practice, after a major communication event, the company will routinely carry out reviews of various departments. But after the end of the market farce, what XPeng needs is not just review, but the reconstruction of the company’s system and even the core management team, which may be necessary work.

After careful consideration, I still hope to speak as a former employee, and to talk about the problems XPeng needs to solve from a macro perspective with the press conference as the starting point, which is also a support for the company I have worked for.

A good medicine tastes bitter but is good for the disease. XPeng may wish to listen to the voice of former employees.

The same thing has happened before

On the day of the G9 press conference, I was most surprised not by its pricing and configuration strategy, but by the fact that the same situation had occurred on two annual models of XPeng.

Reviewing old accounts may be more helpful in understanding the root cause of G9’s problems.

In April 2021, XPeng P5 was first unveiled. P7 refreshed everyone’s understanding of XPeng’s product strength and established a new benchmark for smart cars. Therefore, everyone’s expectation for XPeng P5 was whether it could refresh the upper limit of XPeng’s car sales.

According to the mature practice of the automotive industry, it is actually very simple for XPeng to sell well. Just follow the example of a mini P7 with high appearance, acceptable performance, and outstanding intelligent experience, and optimize some of the details criticized on the P7 within the cost range is enough.

Unexpectedly, XPeng took a different approach and even turned the press conference into negative news.

The soul of XPeng’s auto – He XPeng, is not the protagonist of this press conference. Instead, it was the executives who are responsible for every R&D process of P5.

This format is often used in Apple press conferences now, but the presentation effects are worlds apart.

Every executive who appeared on the stage at Apple’s press conference was carefully selected, not only to meet the requirements of product technology release but also to serve the social responsibility image of Apple’s diversified employees. Professional speech training is also essential, meticulous to the gestures and tone of voice during the speech, making all the speakers of different races and genders on the stage present a consistent speaking style.

On the other hand, in XPeng, the executives have no uniform style in dressing or hairstyle, and stranger still, one can even witness speeches with a state-style in a new force’s product launch, completely lacking the young and energetic feel of a tech company. As a backstage viewer at a few phone manufacturers’ press conferences can detect, “Are these people really coworkers who work together every day?”

The more difficult problem to conceal is the product.

Some people may say that I am talking nonsense, but looking at the current product line of Ideals from L9 to L8, and then on to the subsequent L7 and L6, is a complete repetition of high-end products that are popular and made into middle-class or entry-level models. It’s not difficult for XPeng to sell well by making a P5 according to P7.

It is precisely because almost everyone thinks this way, that the release of the P5 appears more comedic. No one could have imagined that XPeng’s product planning team had no resonance with the market, and seemed to have disregarded the voice of users and the media like they have never been on the internet, making a car that reaches new heights of ugliness. This dramatic twist is as powerful as Disney’s open-cast of real-life versions of “The Little Mermaid” and “Snow White” in casting Jet Li to play Kungfu Panda.The consequence of stubbornness almost immediately exposed itself. After the launch event where XPeng P5 debuted ahead of its time, the widespread media coverage of other brands was nowhere to be seen on P5 in social media, and even some influential self-media criticized its design on Weibo right after the event. The PR team, which should have welcomed the impressive dissemination numbers, instead retreated and went into damage control mode.

The rest of the story after P5 doesn’t need much introduction; it can be summarized as poor sales performance, and very low optional Laser Radar penetration rate, which dealt a heavy blow to XPeng’s growth trajectory after the company was listed on Nasdaq.

The reasons behind these misfortunes were mainly twofold: an incorrect product planning direction that deviated from consumer needs, and a lack of clear and overall product development insight and control from the top management. This created an adverse effect on other aspects such as product development and marketing departments, and even the speakers at the launch event could not get aligned with one another.

The expectation was that the disastrous launch would wake XPeng up, but instead, the company buried its head in the sand, choosing not to talk about the failed launch event or car model planning mistakes. This to some extent also led to the company’s issues being exposed with the P5 model. After a year and a half, XPeng G9 made a brilliant comeback at the launch event.

The car itself should not be the focus of public criticism

Let’s talk about the protagonist of the recent heated discussion: XPeng G9. Frankly, I think it is unfair to associate the G9 with negative news. It is a product that has returned to normal in all aspects compared to P5, and has also comprehensively improved XPeng’s technological capabilities. Previously, XPeng’s focus was on the car infotainment and advanced driving assistance systems, but now it can add powertrain and electrical architecture to its list of expertise.

G9 is aesthetically appealing; the large number of straight lines on its design makes the car look huge while maintaining stability, much like the Volvo XC90 or BMW X5. In contrast to Tesla Model Y’s bread-shaped coupe design, G9 is more in line with Chinese consumer aesthetics for a large car. The interior design and materials are also much better than those of P7 and P5, which overcame the previous design issues. The vehicle provides spacious and comfortable seating for five passengers; there is no need to force the issue with seven seats.

A certain degree of bias has been generated by the perception of home-use cars by Ideanomics L9. In reality, five-seat SUVs remain the mainstream family SUV model worldwide, and I believe XPeng G9’s space design is entirely viable.The driving experience of G9 is also online. Although the initial damping of the chassis is still a bit weak, the driving feel and the long-awaited brake pedal feeling have been greatly improved compared to P7. If P7 is a pseudo-sports sedan that looks fast but actually cannot be driven fast, then the driving experience of G9 is definitely more than one level stronger than P7, and it is a big improvement in the XPeng product system. In addition, the quietness and energy consumption also show the level of a mature product.

The most core highlight of the entire G9 is undoubtedly the 800V silicon-carbide high-voltage platform. Although the 4C battery pack that can achieve 480kW super high-power charging can only be equipped with the 650 performance version, other models can only be equipped with 3C batteries, but the charging speed is already very fast. The higher the charging speed limit, the better the user experience, and the confidence in long-distance travel will also be invisibly improved. We should also remember that XPeng G9’s charging experience has XPeng Super Charging as a guarantee, which is much better than those patriotic car companies who only focus on making cars and not charging services.

In addition, the addition of silicon carbide elements has also improved the efficiency of the G9’s three-electric system, allowing such a large vehicle to achieve energy consumption of 14 to 15 degrees per hundred kilometers.

Admittedly, there are still many shortcomings of G9, which will also be mentioned in the following text. However, as a new force that has always been not based on the three-electric and driving control foundation, they have made a Chinese independent brand, the world’s top-rated 800V high-voltage platform, and a brand new electronics and electrical architecture, which is already stronger than many car companies. Let’s ask, how many of those car companies that invite secretaries of provincial party committees to stand on stage at press conferences or spend huge amounts of money on hard promotion can have higher technical pursuits than XPeng? I hope everyone can give more recognition to XPeng’s technical research and development team.

We cannot deny the objective existence of the cost and value of G9 just because some selling points are not something that can be seen and touched immediately upon delivery. The crisis encountered by G9’s listing and release has nothing to do with the product force of G9 itself. I believe it will continue to release more surprises to consumers in the next year and a half.

The fault lies with people; a bunch of scattered sand cannot become a big thing

Since the product is not at fault, the root of the mistake is obvious, it can only be the people.

To put it more bluntly, XPeng’s management team and mechanism have major problems.

XPeng’s products and employees have always suffered from the thinking of wanting both.

Middle-level managers want to demonstrate their status while avoiding taking decision-making responsibility. They often push thinking and decision-making work onto subordinates, listen to reports safely, and let front-line employees revise again and again. Therefore, ambitious employees’ fighting spirit has been worn out and turned into ruthless PPT and weekly report machines. Many complaints about XPeng’s management on Maimai (professional social media platform) are true.## Original Text

既不想产品没亮点，又不想亏钱卖车，导致宣传的亮点全部变成选配或高配项目，按照原来的配置表，低配车主啥光都没沾到。由此对销量的负面影响最终还是会让小鹏吃亏。

互联网人很熟悉亏钱换流量的思路，那为啥还要在产品上抠门，换来一个亏钱也没流量的潜在结局？

既要有宣传声量，又不愿意花钱。在微博上买了一大堆营销号，都不知道有多少号可能是有史以来第一次接触「小鹏汽车」这个品牌。我理解小鹏这一回可能是想复制理想 L9 的策略，那咋不看看人家理想请的都是什么水平的 KOL？人家理想都找游戏和摄影 KOL 试驾 L9 了，你小鹏还抱着某些除了跟高管称兄道弟之外别无是处的媒体，那怎么做破圈和声量？

还有 9 小时超长发布会。超长发布会这玩意儿本来是疫情期间为了挽回没有线下环节的声量而产生的，疫情三年多之后还在用这个玩法，身为前员工的我只能理解为——这可能是负责发布会的中层为了把预算花掉，拿更多的流量好跟高层汇报而想出来的馊主意，刚好高层也没啥网感和掌控力，于是被中层忽悠了。

诸如此类。越想越会发现，这一场发布会的目的仿佛不是齐心协力卖新车，而是各部门借新车上市的机会争奇斗艳，好向老板汇报自己的工作成果，争取有机会拿到更多预算和分工。

小鹏团队管理的病根源在哪儿？我又要站着说话不腰疼了，其实小鹏汽车的病原体，首先就是何老板本人。

小鹏是个非常成功的创业者，与他同一阶段的互联网企业家如今还在创业，甚至能像小鹏这样迎来第二春的人非常非常少。我个人很敬佩他的决心和远见。但我们也不可否认，小鹏的初始角色是产品经理、产品开发者，直到 UC 被收购之后，小鹏才算是真正进入了一家大型企业内担任管理者角色，所以他的大企业从业经历和管理经验，与同时代的互联网企业家相比未必有很大优势。

Translated Text

Both want to have a highlight product and not lose money selling cars, resulting in all the advertised highlights becoming optional or high-end features. Following the original configuration list, the low-end car owners did not get anything. This will ultimately have a negative impact on sales, and XPeng will be at a disadvantage.

Internet professionals are familiar with the idea of losing money in exchange for traffic. Then why be stingy with products and end up with a potential outcome of losing money and not getting traffic?

Want to have publicity volume, but unwilling to spend money. Bought a lot of marketing accounts on Weibo, not knowing how many were first-time encounters with the “XPeng Motors” brand. I understand that XPeng may want to replicate the strategy of Ideal L9, but why not look at what level of KOL Ideal invited? Ideal found game and photography KOL for test driving L9, while you, XPeng, are still embracing some media that are useless other than to grovel with executives. How can you break through the circle and make your voice heard?

There was also a nine-hour-long press conference. This kind of ultra-long press conference was originally created during the epidemic to salvage the voice of events without offline components. After more than three years of the epidemic, it is still in use. As a former employee, I can only understand that this may be a sour idea thought up by the middle management responsible for the press conference to spend the budget, get more traffic, and report to the higher-ups. Since the higher-ups lack a sense of the internet and control, they are being fooled by the middle management.

And so on. The more I think about it, the more I realize that the purpose of this press conference seems to be not to sell new cars with unity, but for various departments to show off and report their work results to the boss, striving for more budgets and division of work opportunities.

What is the root cause of XPeng’s team management problems? I’m going to speak candidly again. The pathogen of XPeng Motors is primarily Mr. He himself.

XPeng is a very successful entrepreneur, and other Internet entrepreneurs at the same stage are still in their entrepreneurial phase today. Very few people can have a second spring like XPeng. I personally admire his determination and foresight. However, we cannot deny that XPeng’s initial role was as a product manager and developer. Only after the acquisition of UC did XPeng truly enter a management role in a large enterprise. Therefore, his experience in big business and management is not necessarily a great advantage compared to his contemporaries in the internet industry.In XPeng Motors, we increasingly see the influential impact of CEO Mr. He’s lack of integration among the company’s major systems. The G9 intelligent cockpit and technology roadmap for autonomous driving are likely initiated by him, but aspects such as powertrain, manufacturing and styling design are controlled by various executive managers. Undoubtedly, this situation will affect the company’s entire work from top to bottom. After all, when the founder’s will cannot fully penetrate to the middle level, and the work goals of middle-level managers may not necessarily align with the overall goals of the enterprise, it is possible for the effect of the performance of front-line employees to be beyond your control.

For example, in November 2021, XPeng Motors announced a brand renewal. Nearly a year has passed, but in busy areas such as Guangzhou Dongfang Baotai and Yuehui City, we can still see direct stores with the old logo of XPeng. Logically, changing the logo is a very important matter, so why is the implementation effect less than satisfactory? Asking Mr. He XPeng is useless since he did not personally change the logo himself. Asking store managers and salespeople is also useless since they did not have the budget or the authority to change it. The only ones to blame are the middle-level employees related to this matter.

(A photo taken two weeks before G9 was released)

As a former employee, I truly feel that Mr. He XPeng’s mind is not always on automobiles.

NIO and Ideal have developed better reputations than XPeng in a shorter time, largely due to the automotive industry experience of Li Bin and Li Xiang. These two individuals understand cars, media, and consumers, so they can naturally make many products and things that exceed the expectations of the public.

However, Mr. He XPeng is different. He has never shown his passion for cars or had any working experience in the automotive industry. As a high-level position holder, he may know about the capital environment of the automotive industry and know many government-related things, but I believe he is definitely not as familiar as Li Xiang, Li Bin, or even some senior executives of domestic automakers with what consumers really think about automobiles.

When someone lacks comprehensive knowledge of the industry they are in, some middle-level personnel of some malicious companies may take advantage of the information asymmetry between themselves and the boss to deceive the company greatly, and thereby deviate from the planned company development path. Apart from some middle managers, no one else benefits.

Therefore, XPeng, who has already been successful, actually needs to spend more time supplementing his own weaknesses. I believe Mr. He XPeng can do it.

Now that the pathogen has been identified, the next step is to analyze XPeng’s illness. XPeng Motors’ biggest chronic disease is its middle management team. The reason why it is called a chronic disease is because the scope of its impact is far beyond just the listing and release conference but involves every aspect of the company’s daily operations.The “middle level” to be discussed here strictly refers to people, except for He XPeng, who can control the management of large teams in the company, including CXOs. Most of XPeng’s “leaders” have never been able to manage the mid-level managers of large companies who can command their respective warships under the big fleet, and lead the company to the right path together. Instead, they hold a large amount of decision-making power in the company but push the decision-making risks down to subordinates, with the goal of only keeping their own jobs and power positions, leading the company into endless internal consumption.

After I left XPeng Auto, a project manager once found me before leaving and complained about the indecisiveness of the management, which caused the R&D work that had been carried out to be abandoned halfway and even had to lay off the engineers he had personally recruited, and then accused him of the story. From my understanding of this business department, what he said is probably true.

Even old employees receive such treatment, let alone other grassroots employees. The longer you stay in this company, the more you will feel that many middle managers are really not doing their jobs. Lay off the new recruits at the beginning of the year, and then start a big publicity campaign for new recruits in the middle of the year. How would the young people who originally believed in XPeng Auto and chose to join feel? At the beginning of the year, paint a rosy picture for grassroots employees. This year, give you a few million budgets to build your brand, and in the end, only approve a few thousand dollars for you to make a video, and criticize you for not having any achievements… If this continues, how can employees have combat effectiveness?

XPeng Auto should not forget that the value of middle-level managers in the enterprise is to lead the team to achieve the overall development goals of the company. However, the current XPeng Auto is more like a collection of various independent kingdoms, and each kingdom actually has many independent small teams under it, resulting in chaotic marketing rhythm during the listing of G9 and unprecedented nearly 30 SKU of XPeng P7, leaving departing employees with all kinds of opinions about the company…

After all this talk, the truth is actually very simple. The working style of middle-level managers in XPeng Auto no longer meets the requirements of the current development stage of XPeng Auto, and has not brought any positive benefits to the company except for adding complex interpersonal relationships and wasting time and money internally.

Such a system is better off not having.

Solving problems starting from solving people

The following paragraph may make some friends uncomfortable when they read it, they may be former colleagues or former leaders, but I am purely objective and I also understand everyone’s difficulties.To continue making good cars, understanding the product is essential. Only by understanding the product and the market, can you avoid making statements like ‘taking over Porsche’. Therefore, it is suggested that He XPeng himself should first purchase several Porsches and Maybachs, to know what makes a ‘dream car’ that would appeal to everyone. Keep up with Weibo and watch all kinds of automobile KOLs reviewing, whether they’re popular or not, to learn how to evaluate a product.

(Given Mr. He’s wealth, purchasing a 911 should cost about the same as us having a bowl of Lanzhou Ramen)

Remember, it is only after consumers have bought the car, that they can know how good XPeng’s intelligent technology is. Therefore, the importance of basic automobile design and technology, is no less than that of intelligent car systems and autonomous driving technologies. When you truly understand the product, you know how to make it more accessible to consumers, and not be misled by middle management. I believe that if He XPeng understood the market demand, he would definitely not allow the G9 to have a wireless phone charging pad only on the driver’s side, as direct competitors like Tesla and Huawei all have it equipped on both sides.

At the same time, it is also suggested that He XPeng streamline his own energy and focus on essential matters. Investors believe that Huitian and Pengxing will succeed, based on He XPeng’s successful management of XPeng Motors. Now that they’ve released the G9, the Nasdaq has dropped below the issue price, and He XPeng’s trip to Dubai, what can they do about it? He XPeng needs to put 120% of his energy into reviving XPeng Motors.

(Co-founder of Huitian, Zhao Deli is pictured on the left)

By the way, I strongly suggest that Huitian, a quack-company that has only appeared on Hunan Satellite TV variety shows, ought to give up as soon as possible.

Regarding people, XPeng Motors should treat their employees as they should. For those who cannot work, let them go with dignity. For those who can work, provide them with good food and drink within their scope of ability, and offer opportunities for promotion and salary raises, instead of simply promising things to retain employees. If you want to maintain the company image, be a dignified person first.

The most important thing is to find an opportunity to reshape the company’s management mechanism and restructure the middle management team. The G9 incident fully exposed the chaos brought about by the middle management of XPeng Motors. Just as they got rid of those obstinate base-level employees who had no performance, middle management personnel who create small kingdoms and bring in meaningless political correctness, like those from Huawei, Alibaba and traditional computer manufacturers, who have no practical ‘merit’ should also be ruthlessly removed.Translate the following Chinese Markdown text to English Markdown text in a professional manner, keep HTML tags inside Markdown, and only output the result.

Give the power back to frontline employees appropriately, and use real gold and silver to motivate their creativity and work enthusiasm. It may be more valuable than hiring a bunch of mid-level managers with impressive resumes. Only in this way can we truly appreciate the grassroots workers and users and investors who truly serve the company.

Postscript

I wrote this article just to sort out my own thoughts. Although I have left now, I still have many thoughts when I see the recent public opinion of XPeng G9. Naturally, I want to express my views on the discussion brought about by the XPeng G9 incident. So consider this article as the result of my venting, which may be subject to further scrutiny, but it doesn’t matter.

To be fair, XPeng Motors’ product and technology strength are good, otherwise it would not have been able to walk from the state of being ridiculed by the public to now. These achievements really owe a lot to the grassroots employees of the company and the media who have always paid attention, recognized, and voiced support.

I noticed that some famous individuals made many vigorous statements after the media interviews. Some mid-level managers may think this is smearing XPeng, but those who do not support or pay attention to XPeng Motors cannot say those things. So G9 being criticized so harshly this time is actually a good thing.

I don’t regret joining XPeng back then, nor do I regret leaving later. The XPeng back then had a lot of potential, but the current XPeng is not an ideal career development opportunity. I hope that XPeng He and the management team of XPeng Motors can truly understand the problems of the company, have the courage to solve these problems, and let the company stand up again.

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.