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At about 10: 00 p.m. on 31 March, the Supervisory Commission of the Beijing Municipal Commission for discipline Inspection issued the latest notice: Xu Heyi, former party committee secretary and chairman of Beijing Automobile Group Co., Ltd., is suspected of serious violations of discipline and law, and is currently under disciplinary examination and supervision investigation.

On July 31, 2020, BAIC held a meeting of leading cadres. Xu Heyi no longer held the post of party committee secretary and chairman of Beijing Automobile Group Co., Ltd because of his age. Jiang Deyi, former party committee secretary and chairman of Beijing Jinyu Group (Stock) Company, will take over this post. At this time, it has been three years since Xu Heyi retired.

Xu Heyi, male, born in November 1957, graduated from Beijing Iron and Steel Institute (now Beijing University of Science and Technology) majoring in iron and steel metallurgy. Xu Heyi joined the work in March 1976 and worked in Shougang in his early years. Later, he served as deputy director and party group secretary of the Beijing Municipal Economic Commission, deputy secretary of the Beijing Municipal Party Committee Industrial work Committee, and deputy director of the Beijing Municipal Economic Commission.

In 2002, Xu Heyi was transferred to BAIC as deputy secretary and vice chairman of the party committee of BAIC, and secretary of the party committee and chairman of Beijing Hyundai to start a career in the automotive industry. In October 2007, Xu Heyi succeeded an Qingheng as chairman of BAIC holding Co., Ltd., and served as chairman of subsidiary companies of the group. In July 2020, Xu Heyi no longer held the post of party committee secretary and chairman of Beijing Automobile Group Co., Ltd because of his age. He led BAIC for nearly 14 years at this time.

Without Xu Heyi, BAIC would not be where it is today. When Xu Heyi was transferred to BAIC in 2002, BAIC was a marginalized local state-owned enterprise with no competitiveness in passenger cars. Under the leadership of Xu Heyi, South Korea's Hyundai Motor, which was not favored by the market at that time, established a joint venture with Hyundai Motor Beijing Hyundai Motor Co., Ltd., which became the first Sino-foreign joint venture project in the field of automobile production approved after China's accession to the WTO. A month later, the fifth generation Sonata appeared on the market as the first model of Beijing Hyundai, and promoted the introduction of a series of models such as Elantra, Tusheng and ix35 one after another. these new cars were hot on the market, invigorating BAIC's joint venture business sector and making BAIC rapidly become a well-known domestic automobile manufacturing company.

While Beijing Hyundai is making great progress, BAIC is working with Daimler (now Mercedes-Benz). In August 2005, Beijing Mercedes-Benz Automobile Co., Ltd. was established, in which Beijing Automobile owns 51% and Daimler 49%. In December 2005, Mercedes-Benz E-class launched, becoming the first domestic model of Beijing Mercedes-Benz. Since then, Beijing Mercedes-Benz has made domestic C-Class, A-Class, GLK, GLA and other models. In November 2013, BAIC and Daimler signed a strategic cooperation agreement for the North Daihe project, and the two sides achieved a stronger cooperative relationship through cross-shareholdings. In July 2019, BAIC announced that it would invest in Daimler, with a 5% stake, making it the third largest shareholder in Daimler. In December 2021, BAIC increased its stake in Daimler to 9.98%, making it the largest shareholder in Daimler.

In addition to the joint venture plate, the rapid rise of BAIC new energy is also inseparable from the support of Xu Heyi. BAIC New Energy is the first company in China to obtain the qualification for the production of new energy vehicles. Relying on the cost-effective EU and EX series, BAIC New Energy has won the title of domestic new energy sales for seven consecutive years from 2013 to 2019, from 1623 vehicles in 2013 to 158000 vehicles in 2018. In September 2018, BAIC New Energy completed its listing through backdoor Vanguard shares and became the first new energy vehicle stock listed in China. It is precisely from 2018, with the emergence of new car-building forces like bamboo shoots after a spring rain, although it does not pose a threat to BAIC new energy, it has begun to decline. BAIC Langu once again ranked first in domestic pure electric vehicle sales with sales of 150600 vehicles in 2019, down 4.69% from a year earlier. BAIC's new energy sales fell off a cliff in 2020, with annual sales of only 25900 vehicles, down 82.79 per cent from a year earlier.

Xu Heyi "contributed a lot" to the development of BAIC, and he proposed to "take the road of collectivization and achieve great-leap-forward development", which laid a solid foundation for fundamentally solving the situation of "scattered, small and chaotic" in the early days of Beijing Automobile. And its leading Beijing Hyundai and Beijing Mercedes-Benz have become the "important pillars" of BAIC's development. Of course, until Xu Heyi retired, and even today, BAIC's independent plate is still in the doldrums.

After stepping down from his post at BAIC, Xu Heyi continued to attend various public events, deliver speeches or give media interviews as a member of the Economic Committee of the CPPCC National Committee, while Jiang Deyi kept a low profile and rarely appeared in public after taking over BAIC.

Xu Heyi is the second car company leader to be investigated after retirement, and the last one to be investigated is Qi Yumin, former chairman of brilliance Group. In April 2019, brilliance Group held a cadre meeting. Because of his age, Qi Yumin no longer served as party committee secretary and chairman of brilliance Automobile Group holding Co., Ltd., and was succeeded by Yan Bingzhe, former vice mayor of Shenyang City, Liaoning Province. After retiring, Qi Yumin responded to his career with the words "past zero, love and hate at will". In December 2020, the Supervisory Commission of the Liaoning Provincial Commission for discipline Inspection released news that Qi Yumin, former party committee secretary and chairman of brilliance Group, was investigated for serious violations of discipline and law, just over a year after his retirement.

In addition to Qi Yumin, the last head of an automobile company being investigated was Xu Jianyi, former chairman of FAW Group. On March 15, 2015, just after the conclusion of the national "two sessions", Xu Jianyi was investigated on suspicion of serious violations of discipline and the law, and was later sentenced to 11 years and six months in prison for accepting bribes and confiscating personal property from the list attached to the judgment. This is also the biggest tiger in the auto industry.

After entering 2023, the top leaders of the automobile industry will change frequently, and it is also unknown whether the top leaders of the automobile circle will be checked in the future.

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