Wei Jianjun has been a little annoyed recently. A week ago, the news that "a number of middle and high-level employees of Great Wall Motor resigned" made Great Wall Motor once again stand on the cusp.
According to this report, before and after the Spring Festival, many middle and senior employees of Great Wall Motor Brand Company (including brands such as Haval, Wei, Tanks and Euler) offered to leave, including at least three senior employees at the vice president level and over ten section chiefs and ministers (directors and senior directors).
The personnel adjustment of Great Wall Motor is nothing new.
In 2023, many senior executives of brands such as Wei Pai and Haval changed frequently. There are many speculations about the reasons for the resignation of relevant executives, including unbearable work pressure and poor management. For the departure tide around the Spring Festival, Tencent’s "High Beam" column pointed to the internal anti-corruption. "The top management may have to make a big adjustment and change blood through this incident."
Great Wall Motor does not recognize this. In a statement provided to Time Finance, it said that it would sue for accusing the report of "malicious speculation and misleading public opinion". However, Great Wall Motor did not inform the specific information of the relevant employees in this statement.
Wei Jianjun, the chairman of Great Wall Motor, still has a lot of troubles in the past two years-in 2022, the annual sales volume of Great Wall Motor suddenly dropped from 1.28 million in the previous year to less than 1.07 million, showing signs of decline. At that time, Wei Jianjun shouted, "Great Wall Motor will squat in 2022, in order to accumulate strength and achieve a better take-off in 2023", and set the annual sales target for 2023 as 1.6 million vehicles.
Great Wall Motor finally failed to achieve this set sales target. In 2023, it sold 1.231 million vehicles, nearly 370,000 vehicles short of the target set at the beginning of the year, and also lower than the sales of 1.28 million vehicles in 2021. Sales in 2023 failed to meet expectations, and the net profit of Great Wall Motor also fell by more than 15% year-on-year.
Wei Jianjun, the helmsman, may not be able to sit still, because of the slumping sales volume and declining profits, and he began to make frequent appearances and voices at the front desk.
Lao Wei’s persistence and employees’ helplessness
Wei Jianjun is the soul of Great Wall Motor.
In 1990, in the sixth year of the establishment of Great Wall Motor Factory, Wei Jianjun became the general manager of Great Wall Motor Industry Corporation. Since then, Wei Jianjun has been at the helm of this enterprise for 34 years. In private, many employees call him "Lao Wei".
In 2016, the annual sales volume of Great Wall Motor exceeded 1 million vehicles for the first time, making it one of the independent brands with the highest sales volume in China. Its pickup trucks and SUVs are selling well, and Haval H6 sells more than 30,000 vehicles a month, making it one of the best-selling models in China.
In the eyes of many employees of Great Wall Motor, Lao Wei is a "technology fanatic", and he is especially persistent and serious about technology, which is one of the key factors for the success of Great Wall Motor in the field of fuel SUV and pickup truck. Lao Wei is also a racing driver and a car fan, and studying cars is his great hobby. Today, he often appears in front of employees and the outside world in overalls.
In the documentary "The Road to Brand Power" launched by CCTV, Wei Jianjun once recalled the experience of building a car more than 30 years ago: "We lacked technology at that time and were always envious and even admired foreign capital (enterprises), so we always spared no effort in technology to break through."
"In terms of investment in technology research and development, we have an unwritten slogan called’ excessive investment in research and development’. Excessive investment is not a waste, but a longer-term investment." Wei Jianjun said.
Anyone who has had contact with Wei Jianjun knows that he is strict with his work. "Lao Wei’s requirements for product technology are strictly critical." A Great Wall Motor employee disclosed to Time Finance, "The technical department of Great Wall Motor has the most resources, but it is also the most stressful, and it is more common for (employees) to be scolded."
Yang Lin (pseudonym), who worked in Great Wall Motor for 4 years, recalled that Wei Jianjun used to ask the relevant leaders of the brand to lead the main person in charge of the model to report to him regularly. "(Wei Jianjun) If he is not satisfied with his work, he will directly complain." The main person in charge of these models is often an old employee of Great Wall Motor who has been in office for more than 10 years.
The management of Great Wall Motor is self-contained and strict. On many social platforms, many former employees of Great Wall Motor complained that Great Wall Motor needed to participate in military training, prohibit eating and wasting, queue up to go to work, and go to designated areas to answer calls.
"Take eating as an example. When I am on the job, I will be fined for eating waste, and the section chief and minister in charge will be jointly punished." Yang Lin told Time Finance. Others need military training and other content, and Yang Lin also said that most of them are true.
Time Finance verified the authenticity of the above-mentioned internal staff daily regulations with Great Wall Motor. No reply has been received as of press time.
Wei Jianjun’s Great Wall Motor’s pursuit of technology and strict management coexist, which makes employees feel nervous and stressed, and also discourages some job seekers. However, in Yang Lin’s view, Great Wall Motor is still a good choice if you want to get tempered and improve your technical level.
Be involved in the eye of public opinion storm
The sudden departure of a number of middle and senior managers made Great Wall Motor and Wei Jianjun stand in the eye of public opinion storm.
"I heard that the departure before the Spring Festival was too fast, and it was only two months." Tencent reported that Li Peng, the head of the sales and service center of Great Wall Motor, left the company suddenly, which surprised his colleagues.
Also leaving before and after the Spring Festival was Qiao Xinyu, executive vice president of Harvard brand marketing, who worked for Great Wall Motor for more than 6 years. According to the above report, Qiao Xinyu officially resigned at the end of December last year and completed the resignation procedures in mid-January before the Spring Festival this year. Qiao Xinyu’s last Weibo about Great Wall Motor was released on December 19th, 2023.
Time Finance also noticed that the deputy general-level employees who left at almost the same time as Li Peng Cheng and Qiao Xinyu, as well as Gu Huajun, the head of the user operation center of Great Wall Motor. Gu Huajun has worked for Great Wall Motor for many years, and has served as Director of Digital Marketing Department of Great Wall Motor, Senior Director of Wei Brand User Operation Department and Senior Director of User Operation of Great Wall Motor.
After the above information was exposed, Great Wall Motor issued a statement to respond, but it did not deny the information about the resignation of relevant executives. Time Finance once again verified the resignation information of the above-mentioned senior executives with Great Wall Motor, but no reply was received as of press time.
Despite this, the information from official channels can also reflect the changes of executives within Great Wall Motor.
On November 3, last year, Li Ruifeng, CGO (Chief Growth Officer) of Great Wall Motor, announced the latest appointment in Weibo: Liu Yanzhao is also the general manager of Wei brand and tank brand, responsible for the overall management of Wei brand and tank brand; Zhao Yongpo will be the general manager of Haval brand, taking charge of the overall management of Haval brand; Gu Yukun, the commodity director of the former Tank 500, will serve as the executive deputy general manager of the tank brand.
The hasty departure and frequent changes of executives can’t help but make the outside world suspicious. What’s wrong with Great Wall Motor? Why do talents leave one after another?
Media reports pointed the reason to the internal anti-corruption of Great Wall Motor, saying that Wei Jianjun had great doubts about the marketing of vehicle business last year. At the same time, in November, 2023, Wei Jianjun at Wuzhen Internet Summit denounced employees as passive defenders in the face of public opinion, saying that they were "not even as good as a watchdog" and were questioned as dissatisfied with employees.
The above reasons may have triggered a new round of organizational structure and personnel adjustment quietly and quickly at the end of the year.
In fact, Great Wall Motor has already started organizational restructuring. In June, 2023, Feng Mu, President of Great Wall Motor, revealed at the shareholders’ meeting that Great Wall Motor has completed the global management mode, and the "541" management mode of five large and medium-sized companies-four brand organizations-one Great Wall Motor is being consolidated, and the talent echelon construction and incentive mechanism are also accelerating.
According to media reports, at an internal meeting at the end of December last year, Feng Mu and Li Ruifeng announced the organizational structure adjustment plan of the large, medium and Taiwan departments in Great Wall Motor’s vehicle business unit, from which the former five large, medium and Taiwan units were changed into seven large, medium and Taiwan units, with the aim of optimizing and integrating resources, improving efficiency and avoiding power concentration.
The organizational structure adjustment plan has undergone major changes after half a year, or it means the failure of the old plan of Great Wall Motor and the confusion of the status quo. Time Finance also asked Great Wall Motor for the change of the above organizational structure plan, but no reply was received as of press time.
"For Great Wall Motor, technological changes such as batteries and interconnection are not the ultimate challenges. The biggest challenge is the changes in system, mechanism and culture." Wei Jianjun has publicly stated.
In addition to the changes in organizational structure, it is difficult for latecomers to integrate, which may also be the reason why some senior executives left, as Li Peng showed.
"There will be contradictions between’ Old Baoding’ and newcomers." Yang Lin said to Time Finance: "Older employees in Great Wall Motor may not agree with the newcomers’ ideas, and some old leaders will directly deny the newcomers’ plans."
In addition, in Yang Lin’s view, there is still a phenomenon of "one word at a time" in the department. "Even if the leader’s idea is wrong, employees will be required to implement it." He said.
Internal and external difficulties, Wei Jianjun came forward to stabilize the situation
The internal organizational structure is unstable, and the external market environment of Great Wall Motor is not optimistic.
Wei Jianjun once said that the squat in 2022 is to take off better in 2023. However, Great Wall Motor did not "jump" as expected in 2023.
According to the performance report, the total operating income of Great Wall Motor in 2023 was 173.410 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 26.26%. However, the net profit is shrinking. In 2023, the net profit was 7.01 billion yuan, down 15.06% year-on-year. Great Wall Motor said that the decline in net profit was mainly due to the impact of exchange rate gains during the same period.
For Great Wall Motor, 2023 is a challenging year: in 2023, Great Wall Motor sold 1.231 million vehicles at home and abroad, failing to meet the sales target of 1.6 million vehicles set at the beginning of the year. Compared with BYD, Chery and Geely, which are also the top four independent brands, Great Wall Motor’s sales in 2023 were at the bottom. In 2023, the sales of the first three vehicles were 3.02 million, 2.55 million and 1.88 million respectively.
Great Wall Motor performed well in overseas markets in 2023. From 2021 to 2023, the overseas sales of Great Wall Motor were 143,000 vehicles, 173,000 vehicles and 316,000 vehicles, respectively, which increased substantially for many years. Its overseas market sales in 2023 also surpassed Geely, BYD, Changan and other car companies, and the overseas sales of the latter three companies in the same year were 274,000, 242,000 and 236,000 respectively.
Great Wall Motor’s sales growth in the domestic market is limited. According to calculation, the domestic sales of Great Wall Motor from 2021 to 2023 were 1.138 million, 894,000 and 915,000, and its domestic sales in 2023 decreased by 223,000 compared with the peak period in 2021.
When attending the 2022 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders in June last year, Feng Mu revealed that he would strive to achieve sales of 1.9 million vehicles and a net profit of 7.2 billion yuan. Great Wall Motor confirmed the accuracy of this goal to Time Finance at the beginning of this year. This means that Great Wall Motor plans to achieve a 54.5% year-on-year sales growth of about 670,000 vehicles this year.
The attitude of the outside world to Great Wall Motor to achieve this goal is not optimistic. Debon Securities Research Report pointed out that in 2024, Great Wall Motor will still face multiple risks such as market price competition exceeding expectations, the company’s new energy transformation falling short of expectations, and the company’s new car sales falling short of expectations.
According to the rating report published by Dahua Jixian quoted by Titanium Media, it believes that the sales target of 1.9 million vehicles in 2024 is "impossible to achieve". Based on this, the bank cut the net profit forecast of Great Wall Motor from 2023 to 2025 by 13%, 27% and 28% respectively, lowered the target price from HK$ 13.5 to HK$ 9, and downgraded its rating from "buy" to "hold".
Wei Jianjun went to the front of the stage more often, and began to create momentum for new cars frequently-before and after the listing of 700 Hi-4T, a new Great Wall car, at the end of February, the tank brand released a video of Wei Jianjun personally "strictly reviewing" the new car, and Wei Jianjun praised the new car.
A screenshot provided by the tank shows that Wei Jianjun said in the WeChat circle of friends that "Tank 700 has been experienced for more than two months, and it feels very good, surpassing the million-class luxury SUV in an all-round way. The work of the tank team and technical center is worthy of recognition, which definitely brings value to users. Enjoy."
Wei Jianjun also attended the new car delivery ceremony and presented the new car keys to the car owners’ representatives. According to this, market participants believe that Wei Jianjun’s frequent appearances are intended to send a signal to the outside world: Great Wall Motor’s products and internal structure are constantly being optimized and tend to be stable, hoping to boost market and consumer confidence.
As far as the most intuitive market sales are concerned, Great Wall Motor is still facing a severe test this year. In the first two months of this year, Great Wall Motor sold a total of 175,000 vehicles, achieving 9.2% of the annual sales target. In the next 10 months, Great Wall Motor needs to sell about 173,000 cars every month to achieve the annual sales target. It’s not easy.
