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According to the official WeChat release of Dongfeng Automobile, on the afternoon of March 3, 2023, Dongfeng Automobile Group Co., Ltd. held a leadership meeting. Entrusted by the leaders of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, the responsible comrades of the relevant departments of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee announced the Central Committee's decision on the removal of the chairman and party committee secretary of Dongfeng Motor Group Co., Ltd.: according to the needs of the work, in accordance with the relevant regulations on the age of central enterprise leaders, Comrade Zhu Yanfeng was removed from the post of chairman and party committee secretary of Dongfeng Automobile Group Co., Ltd. The relevant dismissal shall be handled in accordance with the provisions of the relevant laws and articles of association.

It is understood that Zhu Yanfeng was born in March 1961 and is about to turn 62. At a normal pace, he could retire to the second tier next year, but his sudden dismissal was a year ahead of schedule.

In September 1979, Zhu Yanfeng, who was born in Fenghua, Zhejiang Province, was admitted to the Chemical Automation and Instrumentation Department of Zhejiang University. After graduating from the university in August 1983, he joined FAW Group as a grass-roots general technician. In April 1997, he became the deputy general manager of FAW Group and general manager of FAW car. In February 1999, Zhu Yanfeng became general manager of FAW Group. In December of the same year, Zhu Yanfeng went a step further and became chairman of FAW Group. At that time, Zhu Yanfeng was only 38 years old and became the youngest of the four state-owned car companies.

The year 2002 was the peak of Zhu Yanfeng's career in FAW. On June 14, Zhu Yanfeng, chairman of FAW Group, and Zhang Shitang, chairman of Tianjin Automobile Group, signed a joint reorganization agreement at the Great Hall of the people in Beijing. Through this reorganization, FAW acquired Tianjin Automobile Group, China's largest economic car manufacturer, which was the largest and most influential restructuring event in the history of China's automobile industry at that time. Zhu Yanfeng promoted FAW to "gobble up" Tianjin Motor successfully and realized a joint venture with Toyota. Under the policy restriction of "two places" at that time and Toyota's established plan of "one from the north to the south", there would be no FAW Toyota without FAW to integrate and reorganize Tianjin Motor.

During the period when he was in charge of FAW Group, Zhu Yanfeng led FAW Group to launch Red Flag, Xiali and other independent brands, and tried to promote "Red Flag" to return to the high-end market, but FAW's development in the independent brand market has been difficult, and did not get an ideal market response. In the failure of the independent brand market, Zhu Yanfeng's halo in FAW gradually faded.

In 2007, Zhu Yanfeng left FAW, which he had struggled for 24 years, and went to Jilin Province to serve as member of the standing Committee, Vice Governor and Deputy Secretary of the Jilin Provincial CPC Committee.

Zhu Yanfeng, who originally thought that he had made rapid progress and left the automobile industry for 8 years, returned to the automobile industry and took charge of the second Auto Dongfeng Automobile. In May 2015, Zhu Yanfeng succeeded Xu Ping as chairman of Dongfeng Motor, while Xu Ping, chairman of Dongfeng Motor, will travel to Changchun to serve as chairman of FAW Group.

After taking charge of Dongfeng Motor, Zhu Yanfeng initiated the reform measures of "three supplies and one reform", delegated water supply, power supply, and property management to third-party companies, and regarded the automobile industry as the main business of Dongfeng Motor, building the core competence of the automobile.

However, looking back at the seven years when Zhu Yanfeng was in charge of Dongfeng, it was far less than the scenery of FAW in that year.

In 2016 and 2017, Dongfeng sold 4.28 million and 4.12 million vehicles, respectively. Zhu Yanfeng targeted a sales target of 4.5 million in 2018. As a result, Dongfeng's sales fell to 3.83 million in 2018. Since 2017, the sales volume of Dongfeng Motor has entered the decline channel, the once-popular DPCA continues to plummet, and Dongfeng Renault and Dongfeng Yulong fade out of the market.

At present, all sectors of Dongfeng Motor are more or less in a situation, independent brands can not help up, joint venture brands are no longer glamorous.

It is understood that Dongfeng's independent brands include demeanor, scenery, fashion, Fengshen, well-off, Yufeng, as well as new energy brands Lantu, Mengshi, so many brands constitute a "big independent" family, but sales lag far behind BYD, Geely and Changan, and their popularity is also at the bottom of the industry.

In terms of joint venture brands, the performance of Dongfeng Nissan and Dongfeng Honda in the end market began to weaken. For example, Dongfeng Nissan's annual sales were less than 1 million for the first time in 2022, Dongfeng Honda's sales declined for many months in a row, while the minimum annual sales of DPCA were only more than 50, 000. Dongfeng Renault delisted, Dongfeng Yulong bankruptcy restructuring, withdrawal from Dongfeng Yueda Kia …...

Today, Dongfeng Motor will pin its hopes on two high-end new energy brands, Lantu and Mengshi, but high-end and new energy are still pains in Dongfeng Motor's heart, and it seems that it is difficult to make any achievements. In 2022, Dongfeng Lantu annual sales of 19409 vehicles, although an increase of 185.8% year-on-year, but the sense of existence is not strong.

Of course, the performance of Dongfeng Motor in the current market is not the only standard to measure Zhu Yanfeng's ability. unlike when he was in charge of FAW, China's automobile industry is ever-changing, and Dongfeng, as a super-large automobile enterprise directly under the central government, has a lot of baggage and a lot of burden. in addition, in the face of the impact of the automobile "new four modernizations", Zhu Yanfeng's decision-making ability is being tested.

This is following the transfer of Xu Liuping, former chairman of China FAW and secretary of the party committee, to secretary of the party group of the all-China Federation of Trade unions, and the person at the helm of central enterprises in the automobile industry has adjusted again. On February 23, the official website of China first Automobile Group Co., Ltd. announced that the Central Committee decided that Comrade Xu Liuping would no longer serve as chairman and party committee secretary of China first Automobile Group Co., Ltd., and that the appointment and removal of relevant posts would be handled in accordance with the provisions of relevant laws and articles of association.

The successive departures of Xu Liuping and Zhu Yanfeng not only announced the end of an era, but also heralded a new era of Chinese cars dominated by younger leaders.

As one of the four major automobile groups in China, Dongfeng Motor is brewing a profound change. Zhu Yanfeng's retirement may be just the beginning. In the critical period of transformation and change, it will take some time to prove whether the new successors can withstand the test of the market.

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