AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)10/17 Report--

On October 16, according to the Supervisory Commission of Shanghai Jiading District discipline Inspection Commission, Xie Jinhui, Executive Director of Skoda Brand Marketing and Executive Director of Skoda Brand Business of SAIC-Volkswagen Automobile Co., Ltd., is suspected of serious violation of the law. Jiading District Supervisory Commission is currently under supervision and investigation. Some relevant media contacted the relevant person in charge of SAIC-Volkswagen on the matter, who said that the incident was under investigation and there was no more information to disclose.

According to relevant data, Xie Jinhui graduated from the Automotive School of Tongji University in 2004 and has been working for the Shanghai Volkswagen brand since graduation. In May 2014, Xie Jinhui, then senior manager of Shanghai Volkswagen brand marketing, succeeded Liu Jingkang as senior director of Skoda brand marketing. In March, SAIC-Volkswagen announced that TimSteiskal succeeded Christoph Aringer as executive director of SAIC Volkswagen Skoda brand marketing, and together with Xie Jinhui, was responsible for Skodak's marketing, sales and after-sales work in China. It is not difficult to see that Xie Jinhui is the head of SAIC Volkswagen Skoda brand marketing in the Chinese market, and Xie Jinhui is also a higher-level person in the SAIC Volkswagen investigation so far.

It is understood that Skoda is one of the brands operated by SAIC-Volkswagen and has helped SAIC-Volkswagen's sales rise continuously in the past few years. Skoda delivered 220089 vehicles in the Chinese market in 2011, showing a double-digit growth. At the same time, it also set a record of more than 200000 vehicles sold in a single market for the first time, making China the most important market for Skoda in the world. However, with the deep adjustment of the automobile market, Skoda itself has the problem of unclear brand positioning for a long time, and its sales volume has also shown a downward trend year after year. According to relevant data, Skoda's domestic sales from 2015 to 2020 were 317000, 325000, 341000, 282000 and 173000 respectively. 2019 was the turning point for Skoda, and its sales in 2020 nearly doubled compared with 2015. In addition, Skoda delivered a total of 44000 new cars in the first half of 2021, according to official figures from Volkswagen China.

As early as July this year, there were relevant media reports that Skoda had disbanded its marketing team in China, together with the R & D team, and the media also said that the news had been confirmed by many parties with a high degree of authenticity. Later, Skoda officials said: "this is false news." It is worth noting that Skoda has been in China for 15 years, during which time Skoda quickly joined the ranks of mainstream joint venture brands with the halo of Volkswagen brands. Skoda's sales have grown rapidly in an era of brutal growth in the Chinese car market, and Skoda's chairman, Fan Ande, said in 2014 that Skoda plans to set up an independent sales company when annual sales in China reach 500000. But all this, for now, has turned into a bubble.

Welcome to subscribe to the WeChat public account "Automotive Industry Focus" to get the first-hand insider information on the automotive industry and talk about things in the automotive circle. Welcome to break the news! WeChat ID autoWechat