万博 发自 副驾寺
智能车参考 | 公众号 AI4Auto
A notice from Great Wall Motors is like a bolt from the blue.
The No. 2 most influential woman in Great Wall Motors has stepped down.
The announcement stated: Ms. Wang Fengying, Vice Chairman and General Manager of the company, has resigned from her position as Vice Chairman and Executive Director.
The dual leadership of Wei Jianjun and Wang Fengying that has steered Great Wall Motors for the past three decades has finally come to a close.
What did the announcement say?
A notice of changes in directors issued by Great Wall Motors on the eve of Chinese New Year’s Eve has caused a stir in the auto industry.
It was originally just personnel changes within a listed company, but this time it’s a bit different.
Ms. Wang Fengying, No. 2 figure of Great Wall Motors and long-term partner of Wei Jianjun, stepped down.
This was unexpected and there was no forewarning.
According to the announcement released by Great Wall Motors on January 24th: Ms. Wang Fengying, Vice Chairman and General Manager of the company, submitted a written resignation to Ms. Yang Zhijuan, the Executive Director.
She resigned from the position of Executive Director and Vice Chairman of Great Wall Motors and the position of member of the Strategic and Sustainable Development Committee, and will continue to serve as General Manager of Great Wall Motors.
As for the reason, the announcement did not say, only that it was due to work needs.
In Great Wall Motors, Wang Fengying can be considered as one person under her command and ten thousand people over her.
However, due to work needs she gave up the position of Vice Chairman, which has stronger strategic implications, but she is still the Business General Manager of Great Wall Motors.
Yang Zhijuan, Executive Director of Great Wall Motors, also resigned.
She resigned from the position of Executive Director but will continue to serve as Assistant General Manager of Production Technology and Development Center of Great Wall Motors.
According to the announcement, the vacant positions of Vice Chairman and Executive Director have been nominated by the Board of Directors to be taken over by Zhao Guoqing, the current Vice General Manager of Great Wall Motors, and Li Hongshuan, the CFO.
However, until the nomination is passed by the 2022 first shareholder’s meeting of Great Wall Motors, Wang Fengying and Yang Zhijuan will continue to perform the duties of Vice Chairman and Executive Director.
The most influential woman in Great Wall Motors
Why is a seemingly ordinary personnel change attracting so much attention?
The answer lies in examining the background of Ms. Wang Fengying.
Ms. Wang Fengying graduated from Tianjin University of Finance and Economics in 1991 and joined Great Wall Motors, which was still in the small workshop stage, in the same year.
In an era of graduating and being assigned to a state-owned enterprise, this was undoubtedly a bold and adventurous choice.
Two years later, Ms. Wang Fengying was promoted to General Manager of Sales of Great Wall Motors, responsible for the overall sales business of the company.At this time, Great Wall began to move from a small workshop to a standardized production line, becoming the king of the domestic pickup truck market.
It was in 2003, when Wang Fengying officially became the general manager of Great Wall Motors, that she truly made a name for herself in the automotive industry as the only female leader among car companies.
And once she took the helm, she remained steady as a rock in this position for nearly 20 years, making her an evergreen tree in the automotive industry.
While the executives of other car companies came and went, Wang Fengying remained steadfast at the head of Great Wall Motors, no doubt thanks to her personal abilities.
It was during these nearly 20 years that Great Wall Motors became one of the top players among domestic car companies.
The most iconic thing, of course, was the great popularity of the Haval H6, and the subsequent establishment of the independent Haval brand.
And it was Wang Fengying, with a marketing background, who was the driving force behind these initiatives.
In 2011, when the sales of the Haval H3 with its off-road capability label and the H5 failed to meet expectations, Wang Fengying set her sights on urban commuting.
It’s not hard to guess that the end result was the later hailed as the “miracle car,” the Haval H6, which was released in mid-2011 at a price range of 90,000 to 130,000 yuan.
Based on its high cost-effectiveness and the ability to balance city and off-road performance, Haval H6 was a big hit as soon as it hit the market, with a low price to compete with high-priced joint venture models of the same level.
In 2013, thanks to the strong sales of the Haval H6, Wang Fengying saw an opportunity to push for the independence of the Haval brand.
Afterward, Haval rapidly expanded its product matrix under its brand, from Haval H6 to H9, and later the Haval Big Dog, covering various levels and price ranges.
For Great Wall, the significance of Haval was the starting point and foundation of its foothold, and it was the successful establishment of the Haval brand that made Wang Fengying a legend in the automotive industry, with numerous honorary awards.
In 2015, Wang Fengying was named one of the 25 most influential businesswomen in the Asia-Pacific region by Fortune Magazine.
In February 2020, Wang Fengying ranked 14th on Forbes China’s “Most Outstanding Business Women” list.
In November 2021, Wang Fengying was once again selected as one of China’s most influential businesswomen in 2021, ranked ahead of Dong Mingzhu.
Why did she give up her position all of a sudden?The background of the resignation is the transformation of Great Wall Motors towards intelligentization and electrification, which is naturally also for the transformation of the automotive industry.
As Wang Fengying said in an interview, “Great Wall Motors also wants to create a real new force in the automotive industry, explore new business models, and innovate for the future.”
Compared with the car people of the previous era, the young management team has obvious advantages in thinking and attitude towards transformation.
Public information shows that Wang Fengying and Yang Zhijuan, who resigned at the same time, were born in 1970 and 1967, respectively, and are both over 50 years old.
They both joined Great Wall in the early 1990s and belong to the first generation of talent in Great Wall Motors.
Zhao Guoqing, who succeeded Wang Fengying as vice chairman, is 45 years old.
After joining Great Wall Motors in 2000, he has served as the head of the human resources department and the comprehensive management department of the company’s manufacturing business unit, and the head of the Lean Promotion Department of Great Wall Motor Co., Ltd.
He also has a certain technical background and once served as the deputy dean and supporting management department head of Great Wall Automotive Technology Research Institute.
He became the deputy general manager of Great Wall Motors in 2010 and has been in this position ever since.
Li Hongshuan, who succeeded Yang Zhijuan as executive director, is 39 years old. He joined Great Wall in 2007 and has been the CFO of Great Wall Motors since 2020.
The common point of the two successors is that they are young and belong to the second generation of talent in Great Wall Motors.
It is worth noting that Zhao Guoqing also serves as the chairman of the Great Wall’s stakeholder, Beam Car, and has experience in developing both fuel and pure electric vehicles.
Times are changing, and the older generation of car people will eventually step aside.
Although Wang Fengying only resigned as vice chairman, she is still ostensibly the number one person at Great Wall Motors at the execution level.
It’s just that it is unclear whether this adjustment is the result or just the beginning.
Do you know any other iron ladies in the automotive industry?
— The End —
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.