AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)07/18 Report--

On July 18, SAIC announced that Jia Jianxu, president of SAIC, would no longer serve concurrently as general manager of SAIC Volkswagen, and Tao Hailong, former general manager of Huayu Automotive Systems Co., Ltd., would take over the post of general manager of SAIC Volkswagen.

According to an official press release, Tao Hailong was born in 1968, a member of the Communist Party of China, a bachelor of engineering, a senior engineer and currently the general manager of SAIC Volkswagen Motor Co., Ltd.

Reviewing his work experience, Tao Hailong also has extremely rich employment experience in the automotive field. He has been engaged in the automotive industry for more than 30 years, and has worked in the quality Assurance Department and Manufacturing Department of SAIC-Volkswagen for a long time. Since then, he has served as Executive Director and Deputy General Manager of the quality Assurance Department of the passenger car Branch of SAIC; General Manager of Shanghai Automobile Transmission Co., Ltd and General Manager of Huayu Automobile, a leading company in China.

Tao Hailong is the second senior executive from a parts company welcomed by SAIC-Volkswagen, and Jia Jianxu, former general manager of SAIC-Volkswagen, is also an executive from a parts company. Jia Jianxu was born in February 1978. He is a 46-year-old Communist Party member with a master's degree in business administration. He is currently president and deputy secretary of the party committee of SAIC.

In February 2023, SAIC-Volkswagen announced that Jia Jianxu, former general manager of Yanfeng Automobile Decoration system Co., Ltd. would take over as general manager of SAIC-Volkswagen; in December of the same year, SAIC announced the appointment of Jia Jianxu as vice president. Eight days ago, on July 10, the SAIC official announced that the main leaders had adjusted the decision: Mr. Chen Hong, the former chairman, resigned as chairman and other positions due to his retirement age. Wang Xiaoqiu was appointed chairman of SAIC, and Mr. Jia Jianxu was appointed president of SAIC. Judging from the change of Jia Jianxu's position, Jia Jianxu was promoted so fast that he was promoted to group vice president in less than a year, and then promoted to group president in less than a year.

SAIC-Volkswagen is a Sino-German joint venture between SAIC and Volkswagen, and this year marks the 40th anniversary of its founding, according to its website. Forty years ago, Volkswagen signed a joint venture with SAIC to establish SAIC-Volkswagen, becoming one of the earliest joint ventures in China.

Data show that SAIC-Volkswagen overtook FAW-Volkswagen in 2015, becoming the top seller of domestic passenger car companies, and has held the top position for four consecutive years since then. In 2019, SAIC-Volkswagen (2.0018 million) was narrowly overtaken by FAW-Volkswagen (2.0462 million), and then continuously lost sales in China's passenger car market, and sales continued to decline, with sales of 1.5055 million, 1.4571 million and 12.42 million respectively from 2020 to 2022. For comparison, SAIC-Volkswagen sold more than 2 million vehicles for four consecutive years from 2016 to 2019, including 2.0651 million in 2018 and 2.0018 million in 2019.

The pressure on sales has also led SAIC-Volkswagen to make a series of changes urgently. SAIC-Volkswagen adjusted its marketing system in March 2022 and March 2023 respectively, and personnel changes were also carried out during this period. However, from the analysis of sales volume, SAIC Volkswagen's sales performance in the auto market has not yet been significantly boosted. According to sales figures released by SAIC, SAIC-Volkswagen sold 1.215 million vehicles in 2023, down 8.01 per cent from a year earlier. SAIC-Volkswagen has not had many surprises since 2024, with cumulative sales of 512100 vehicles in the first half of the year, up only 1.75% from a year earlier.

At present, SAIC-Volkswagen owns three major brands: Audi, Volkswagen and Skoda, which lay out luxury, mainstream and middle-and low-end markets respectively, but with the transformation of new energy and the upward impact of new power and Chinese brands, traditional car companies are generally facing the pressure of electric transformation, and SAIC-Volkswagen is no exception.

As one of the earliest joint ventures in China, SAIC-Volkswagen is also actively laying out the electrified transformation, but it is still under pressure on the sales side. According to the official website, SAIC-Volkswagen has a total of three pure electric models: ID.4X, ID.6X and ID.3, the first two of which are sister models with FAW-Volkswagen ID.4CROZZ and ID.6CROZZ, while the ID.3 is the unique model of SAIC-Volkswagen. Retail figures show that in the first half of 2024, ID.3 sold 37400 vehicles, ID.4 CROZZ 20000 and ID.4 X 1.26, compared with 4476 for ID.4 CROZZ, 2790 for ID.6 CROZZ and 1252 for ID.6 X. In other words, SAIC-Volkswagen does not have a popular pure electric model at present.

According to the plan, SAIC Volkswagen will mass-produce the new Tuguan L Pro, the new Passat, the new Polo, the ID.7 S and a compact SUV this year. Among them, the new Tuguan L Pro launched on May 30, a total of 6 models with a price range of 23.68-266800 yuan, which are sold in the same room as the cash Tuguan L after listing, while Passat and ID.7 S have appeared in the declaration catalogue of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology.

In the face of the challenges of the new automobile era, SAIC Volkswagen is in urgent need of a capable general to help SAIC Volkswagen restore its development vitality. For Tao Hailong to take over as general manager of SAIC Volkswagen, SAIC Group said: "as a professional leader in automobile manufacturing and quality control, Tao Hailong is familiar with the operation of vehicle enterprises and parts supply chain systems." has a wealth of enterprise management experience and team leadership, full of innovative spirit. In the new stage of joint venture and cooperation created by technology, Tao Hailong will return to SAIC-Volkswagen again, and will further promote the integration and win-win situation of all parties, lead the enterprise to accelerate the construction of the ecological chain of the new automobile industry upstream and downstream, and deeply promote technological innovation. speed up the transformation and upgrading of new energy for Audi and Volkswagen brands; respond to market challenges efficiently and quickly, and promote the enterprise's high-quality sustainable development. " As for the SAIC-Volkswagen coach change, in the face of the current global auto industry "reshuffle", SAIC-Volkswagen can show a broken and backward situation, it remains to be seen.

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