AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)03/22 Report--

On March 21, the all-China Federation of Trade unions held the eighth plenary session of the 17th Executive Committee in Beijing and elected Xu Liuping as vice chairman of the all-China Federation of Trade unions. Xu Liuping was elected first secretary of the Secretariat of the all-China Federation of Trade unions.

On February 23, Xu Liuping stepped down as chairman and party committee secretary of China first Automobile Group Co., Ltd., and was transferred to the all-China Federation of Trade unions as party secretary of the all-China Federation of Trade unions. This means that Xu Liuping is the fastest person at the helm of a car company to be promoted to the ministerial level in the automobile industry.

Data show that the all-China Federation of Trade unions (ACFTU) is a working-class mass organization led by Communist Party of China and led by the Secretariat of the Communist Party of China Central Committee. According to the official website of the all-China Federation of Trade unions, Xu Liuping is currently an alternate member of the 20th CPC Central Committee, party secretary, vice chairman, and first secretary of the Secretariat of the all-China Federation of Trade unions.

He was in charge of the two major automobile groups and opened a new chapter in reform.

In January 2006, Xu Liuping became president and party committee secretary of Changan Automobile (Group) Co., Ltd., and began to take charge of Changan Automobile. In December 2007, Xu Liuping was promoted to chairman, president and party committee secretary of Changan Automobile (Group) Co., Ltd.

In November 2009, China Arms equipment Corporation and AVIC integrated their automotive business and reorganized the new China Changan Automobile Group Co., Ltd., with Xu Liuping as president and party committee secretary; in July 2010, Xu Liuping became vice chairman of China Changan Automobile Group and was promoted to chairman of the group three months later.

During his time at the helm of Changan Automobile, Xu Liuping promoted joint ventures such as Mazda, Ford and Mark Citroen to lead Changan Automobile to the top of China's independent brand sales champion. In 2016, Changan Automobile Group sold 3.0634 million vehicles, an increase of 10.33 percent over the same period last year. This is the best annual sales level since Xu Liuping took the helm of Changan Automobile.

In March 2015, Xu Jianyi, chairman and secretary of the party committee of China first Automobile Group, was investigated on suspicion of serious violations of discipline and law. In May 2015, Zhu Yanfeng succeeded Xu Ping as chairman of Dongfeng Motor, while Xu Ping, chairman of Dongfeng Motor, will go to Changchun and be appointed chairman of FAW Group in the face of danger. Xu Ping was about to retire at that time. In July 2017, Xu Ping was transferred to serve as chairman and party secretary of China Arms equipment Corporation. Xu Liuping, former chairman of Changan Automobile Group, went northward to serve as chairman and party secretary of FAW, thus starting his nearly six-year career at FAW.

Xu Liuping, who is in charge of FAW, seems to have a big family, but in fact he has internal and external troubles. In 2016, FAW sold 3.148 million vehicles, with an operating income of 430.38 billion yuan and a net profit of 16.01 billion yuan. It is worth mentioning that of the 3.148 million vehicles sold, the cumulative sales of independent brands such as Red Flag, Xiali, Pentium and Senya are only 230000, contributing only 7% to the group, especially FAW Red Flag, with annual sales of only 4815.

In the face of the fraudulent FAW, Xu Liuping's "ambition" can only be arranged back for the time being. In September 2017, Xu Liuping officially launched a "reform war" in FAW Group. In that year, FAW Group disrupted the original personnel establishment, adopted a competitive recruitment system, disbanded the 67-year-old FAW Technology Center, and rebuilt the enterprise structure and R & D system layout.

After disbanding, China FAW Technology Center has become four research institutes directly under the group, including New Energy and Intelligent Network Alliance. The research institute is directly linked to the brand to form an independent combat unit of the business department. After the establishment of the research institute, Xu Liuping left a cruel word to the technicians: if a breakthrough cannot be achieved in new energy vehicles next year, 1/3 of the technicians will pack up and leave.

When combing the supplier system, Xu Liuping asked the parts suppliers of FAW Toyota and FAW-Volkswagen: they must support independent development, either reduce the price by 20% on the basis of the existing supply price, or withdraw from the FAW supplier system and directly replace it with suppliers from SAIC and Dongfeng.

On the fourth day after the reform, Xu Liuping appeared at the press conference of Red Flag's new H7, and all the mainstream media were there, waiting for him to respond to the "big change". But the media waited for another big news: to build the Red Flag brand into China's number one luxury car brand.

At the beginning of 2018, FAW Red Flag released a new brand strategy in the Great Hall of the people. Xu Liuping confirmed the strategic goal of building the new Red Flag into a "new noble brand" that is "number one in China and marked in the world". It also puts forward the goal of red flag sales reaching 100000 units by 2020, 300000 units by 2025 and 500000 units by 2035.

To achieve this goal, Red Flag quickly launched the H5 and HS5, and the red card brand sold 33000 vehicles for the whole year in 2018. In 2019, Red Flag launched another HS7, with a starting price of nearly 300000 vehicles. In 2020, Red Flag launched H9, priced between 30.98 and 539800 yuan, against Audi A6L, Mercedes-Benz E-Class, BMW 5-Series and other models. At the end of 2020, Hongqi launched the most expensive model in history, the E-HS9, with a price range of 509800 yuan to 729800 yuan.

Sales show that the Red Flag brand sold 99331 vehicles in 2019, 196684 and 299684 respectively from 2020 to 2021. Affected by the epidemic and spare parts supply, Hongqi brand sold 295691 vehicles wholesale in 2022. Although it failed to meet Xu Liuping's target of 400000 vehicles, it increased nearly 80 times compared with five years ago.

In 2021, FAW Group ushered in the best performance in history, with operating income of 707 billion yuan and net profit of 48 billion yuan. In 2022, which just ended, under the background of the disturbance of "lack of core expensive electricity" and declining revenue, FAW's profit increased to 49 billion yuan instead of falling.

FAW is also ambitious for new energy vehicles. On January 8, 2023, FAW released the global strategy of Red Flag New Energy Brand. Xu Liuping said: "Red Flag Brand will promote the electrification of all models by All in New Energy." A more detailed goal is that the total sales of the Red Flag brand will reach 1 million by 2025, of which more than 500000 new energy vehicles will be sold. By 2030, the total sales of Red Flag brand will exceed 1.5 million, and new energy vehicles will become the main body of sales.

In a speech, Xu Liuping said harshly: red Flag will all stop the development of fuel vehicles and forge ahead towards electrification and intelligence in an all-round way. This is the farthest future Xu Liuping looks forward to for FAW, but he may not be able to achieve it himself.

It is undeniable that Xu Liuping has been in charge of FAW Group for nearly 6 years, the drastic reform has brought obvious changes to FAW Group, driving into the track of steady development, and the Red Flag brand has also become a second-tier luxury car brand in the market. However, Xu Liuping takes office, and FAW Group has not yet announced the next leader, where the Red Flag brand will go.

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