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“How far can the new team go as the ‘senior figure’ exits?”
Author: Zhao Pu Editor: Gao Yuanshan Source: Wild Horse Finance This is the 3725th original article of Wild Horse Finance The article is about 2700 words long and takes about 7 minutes to read.
After the news of the “core team members” changing, XPeng’s stock price dropped. On March 13, XPeng’s “core management team” decreased from 5 members to 3, with co-founders Xia Heng and He Tao exiting the “core management team” and taking on new roles as “lifetime honorary” members. XPeng stated that “co-founders Xia Heng and He Tao will continue to support the company’s development in their new roles as lifetime honorary advisors.” Following this announcement, XPeng’s stock price fell by over 5% on March 14, closing at HK$38.2 per share, with a market value of approximately HK$58.76 billion.
After Xia Heng and He Tao’s departure, the remaining members of the core management team of Xiaopeng Motors are Chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng; President Wang Fengying and Vice Chairman and Co-President Gu Hongdi. In 2024, Xiaopeng Motors aims to sell 280,000 vehicles, double the sales in 2023. With Xia Heng and He Tao leaving the core team, Wang Fengying’s team will take on full responsibility for production and operations, putting pressure on Wang Fengying to achieve rapid growth for Xiaopeng Motors. Can Wang Fengying lead Xiaopeng Motors to achieve rapid growth?
“Tsinghua alumni” withdraw, Wang Fengying team enters “Peng Factory” In 2014, Xia Heng, He Tao, and Yang Chunlei co-founded Xiaopeng Motors, with Xia Heng as president and He Tao and Yang Chunlei as vice presidents. He Xiaopeng was the angel investor of Xiaopeng Motors. In 2017, He Xiaopeng left Alibaba and joined Xiaopeng Motors as chairman, while Yang Chunlei exited the shareholder list of Xiaopeng Motors in the same year. At this point, all three founders of Xiaopeng Motors have exited the “core management team.” “Jiemian News” reported that Xia Heng and He Tao are now involved in the field of robotics. “Wild Horse Finance” found that Xia Heng and He Tao are Tsinghua University alumni who previously worked together at GAC Research Institute and held shares in both companies, with a close working relationship. Data shows that Xia Heng obtained a master’s degree in mechanical engineering from Tsinghua University and a bachelor’s degree in automotive engineering, and later worked at GAC Research Institute, responsible for the development of control systems for GAC’s new energy and intelligent vehicles; He Tao obtained a master’s degree in power engineering and engineering thermophysics from Tsinghua University, and in 2008 obtained a bachelor’s degree in automotive engineering from Tsinghua University. He also joined GAC Research Institute, establishing an autonomous driving team, responsible for the development of new energy control systems and participating in the development of GAC’s first new energy vehicle model. Tianyancha information shows that Xia Heng and He Tao both hold shares in Guangzhou Zhipeng Vehicle Networking Technology Co., Ltd. and Guangzhou Chengpeng Technology Co., Ltd., with Guangzhou Chengpeng Technology Co., Ltd. being held 80% by Xia Heng and 20% by He Tao.
Shareholding situation Source: Tianyancha In addition, Xia Heng also holds shares in Guangzhou Pengxing Investment Management Company and Guangzhou Yidian Intelligent Travel Technology Co., Ltd. Industry insiders commented that Xia Heng and He Tao have been gradually handing over their work since 2023. With the departure of Xia Heng and He Tao, both “Tsinghua alumni,” the team of Xiaopeng Motors President Wang Fengying is being rebuilt. In 2023, Wang Fengying, known as the “Iron Lady of the Automotive Industry,” joined Xiaopeng Motors as president, taking full responsibility for the product planning, product matrix, and sales system of Xiaopeng Motors. In her first year in office, she made “drastic adjustments” to the structure of Xiaopeng Motors. Last year, Wang Fengying divided the East, South, Central, and North regions into 24 sub-regions, and added authorized dealers while eliminating inefficient direct stores. In addition, Wang Fengying also made organizational structure adjustments to multiple departments of Xiaopeng Motors, including production manufacturing, intelligent data, and marketing. In January of this year, Wang Fengying brought her husband, Zhang Lizhao, under her leadership, and her former colleague, Jiang Ziyang, also joined Xiaopeng Motors this year. After a series of team adjustments, Wang Fengying’s team structure has basically taken shape. The new “core management team” of Xiaopeng Motors, consisting of three people, has clear division of labor. Chairman He Xiaopeng sets the company’s strategy, product technology direction, and leads the team in seeking partners, such as Didi Chuxing and Volkswagen. Wang Fengying is in charge of the company’s production and sales, while Gu Hongdi plays an important role in Xiaopeng Motors’ investment and financing business. Gu Hongdi’s position in the “core management team” of Xiaopeng Motors is quite unique. Not only does he serve as vice chairman and co-president of Xiaopeng Motors, but he also holds director positions in other member companies of Xiaopeng Motors. As early as 2004, Gu Hongdi joined JPMorgan Chase, holding several leadership positions in the investment banking business, including core executive in the Asia-Pacific region, participating in landmark transactions totaling over $200 billion, and playing an important role in Alibaba’s IPO process and deeply participating in capital financing, mergers, and acquisitions or corporate restructuring transactions of companies such as Xiaomi, Ctrip, Baidu, and Shanda Group. In 2018, Gu Hongdi officially joined Xiaopeng Motors, focusing on the company’s finance, investment and financing, and globalization work.
Pressure rises: Sales in the past 2 months were less than 13,000 units, with monthly targets of 30,000 to 40,000 units in the second half of the year. Since last year, Wang Fengying has made significant adjustments to the structure of Xiaopeng Motors, even “using the talented without avoiding the close” by bringing in her husband and former colleagues to assist her work, but the marketing pressure has also reached Wang Fengying’s team. From January to February 2024, Xiaopeng Motors delivered a total of 12,795 new cars, compared to 11,228 in the same period last year, an increase of 14%. Although there has been growth, according to the annual target of 280,000 units, Xiaopeng Motors’ monthly sales must reach at least 23,000 units, and the sales in the first two months have not reached the average level, which will inevitably lead to increased sales pressure in the later period.
Canned Library To increase sales, in early March, Xiaopeng Motors began requiring dealers to stock up on inventory, meaning dealers must pay funds to Xiaopeng in advance and prepare 50% of the inventory based on their monthly targets. Some media reports claim that some dealers will use loans to purchase vehicles, Xiaopeng’s requirements will bring “inventory pressure” to dealers, thereby increasing loan interest and putting pressure on dealers’ funds. In response, Xiaopeng Motors said, “0.5 months of inventory is to deliver faster, improve efficiency, and let dealers have cars to sell. Domestic dealers generally have 2 months of inventory, 0.5 months is not ‘inventory pressure,’ this is Xiaopeng Motors’ innovative model of ‘direct + distribution’.” Zhang Xiang, a visiting professor at Yellow River Technology Institute, said that Xiaopeng Motors’ marketing is different from Tesla and NIO. Tesla and NIO are all direct sales, but require a lot of costs, while Xiaopeng Motors does not have that much capital, so Xiaopeng Motors needs the sales network of dealers more. What might make Wang Fengying slightly pleased is the performance of the Xiaopeng X9’s listing. Official data shows that since its first listing in January of this year, Xiaopeng X9 has delivered nearly four thousand units in two months, occupying the top spot in the pure electric MPV and pure electric three-row seat segment market. From March onwards, Xiaopeng X9’s production capacity will be significantly increased to accelerate delivery.
Xpeng Motors said, “The company had accumulated tens of thousands of Xpeng X9 orders in January, and the core bottleneck of X9 has been resolved, which will quickly increase production capacity to ensure delivery.” “In the following quarters, new models on the new platform will be released intensively, with at least 2 popular models to be delivered in the second half of the year,” said a Xpeng Motors spokesperson. According to information from the supply side, Xpeng has requested suppliers to prepare production capacity from the second half of the year to achieve a monthly sales volume of 30,000 to 40,000 vehicles. To support sales, Xpeng Motors announced the nationwide rollout of the XNGP intelligent driving assistance feature for experienced smart driving users, without restrictions on cities or routes. As of February, the monthly active user penetration rate of XNGP urban intelligent driving has reached 83%. Zhang Xiang stated that in the face of the addition of new models and new brands, Xpeng Motors, as a former “new force” in car manufacturing, also feels pressure, and its sales ranking is gradually declining. This requires new members to drive the company’s development. After Wang Fengying completed the adjustment of Xpeng Motors’ structure and brought in her own team members to take charge of key positions, it is beneficial for her strategy to be better executed, which is a normal change in the company’s development process. He believes that Xia Heng and He Tao played a key role during the entrepreneurial period of Xpeng Motors, but now that the company has moved past the entrepreneurial stage and needs to expand the market and increase sales, the role of the founders is not very obvious. Next, the sales pressure of Xpeng Motors has been handed over to Wang Fengying. Last year, Xpeng Motors sold approximately 141,600 vehicles, achieving about 70% of the annual sales target. How many can Wang Fengying’s team achieve this year?