Not surprisingly, starting with the departure of Liu Weidong, general manager of Shenlong Motors, a series of high-level change arrays will be launched within the Shenlong Motors. The reporter learned yesterday that the top executives of the company, including the general manager and deputy general manager of the company, Dongfeng Peugeot and Dongfeng Peugeot, will usher in a collective change. The original company general manager Liu Weidong will be transferred back to the deputy general manager of Dongfeng Motor, and Bi Gaocheng from France will take over the position of general manager of Shenlong Motor.

This is the largest personnel change in Shenlong Motor since 2003. “When the new Shenlong Automobile was established in 2003, the board of directors made a decision to change the general manager after eight years.” The person approaching Shenlong Motor told the reporter.

It is worth mentioning that although the general manager of the company was changed from the Chinese side to the French side, the general managers of Dongfeng Citroen and Dongfeng Peugeot were replaced by the Chinese. At the same time, the "leader" of the market, communications and other departments also changed to the Chinese staff in charge of the right to speak. Overall, "China's right to speak has been raised. In the market and sales areas, it is still led by local talent who understands the Chinese market." The above sources said.

High-level exchange

According to the resolution of the Shenlong Motors' Board of Directors, the largest personnel adjustment in the history of the Shenlong Auto Group took effect on January 23. The original general manager of the company, Liu Weidong, was transferred back to Dongfeng Motor’s headquarters as deputy general manager, but still managed the Shenlong Motor business. Shen Long Motor’s former Finance Minister Qiu Xiandong will serve as China’s top leader and deputy general manager of Shenlong Motors. The original company deputy general manager Bi Gaocheng will replace Liu Weidong as the new general manager.

According to people close to Shenlong Motors, this resolution will be formally announced at the company’s executive meeting held this week. "When the new Shenlong Automobile was established in 2003, the board of directors prescribed that both parties should take turns as general manager of the company. The first is a round of eight years, followed by four rounds of exchange. From 2003 to now, it is exactly 8 years. "The person said.

In 2003, Dongfeng Motor and PSA signed a new joint venture agreement to upgrade the original joint venture between Dongfeng Motor and Citroen as a joint venture between Dongfeng and PSA Group. After 2003, the original Shenlong car brand was split into two brand divisions: Dongfeng Citroen and Dongfeng Peugeot. All models were accompanied by Citroen and Peugeot logos according to their brand ownership. Shenlong Motors was gradually transformed into a vehicle manufacturing department.

As the company’s top leadership changes, a bigger storm is brewing. On January 25th, the upcoming personnel changes in the Shenlong Motor Cadre Assembly also included the following: Dongfeng Citroen deputy general manager Wei Wenqing and general manager Murduff post exchange, Dongfeng Peugeot deputy general manager Lei Xin and general manager Zimmerman post Dongfeng Citroen former director of marketing and publicity Guo Hao (French employees) due to the expiration of his term of office, Zhang Yuguang who had worked at Shanghai Volkswagen was PSA "enjoyed", hired as the Minister of Marketing. Dongfeng Peugeot Marketing Minister He Wenli (French employees) also returned to work at the French headquarters. Wu Shaoge, who once worked for FAW-Volkswagen, was hired as the Dongfeng Peugeot Marketing Minister.

China's right to speak up

As the Ministry of Commerce and its core departments have changed the status of foreign employees in power and started to use Chinese employees, this change in personnel is considered to be beneficial to the promotion of the discourse power of China Dragon Motors. “The business development of PSA China in the past few years is not very satisfactory. The PSA headquarters also feels that it may be better for the Chinese to manage the Chinese market.” A person close to the PSA headquarters told this reporter.

Shenlong Automobile was established in 1992 and is equivalent to Shanghai Volkswagen as the first batch of joint venture automobile companies in China. However, due to the mistakes in product launch decisions, the development speed of Shenlong Automobile has been slower than that of the public and other competitors. Until 2009, Shenlong Motors ushered in sales and product breakthroughs.

In 2010, the annual sales volume of Shenlong Motor reached 375,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 38%, which is the company's best sales performance in recent years. Among them, the Dongfeng Citroen brand sold 224,000 vehicles in 2010, an increase of 40% year-on-year. “In the past Dongfeng Citroen has always emphasized the scale of sales, and its products and brand positioning are on some more popular products, but the effect is not ideal. After C5 was listed, Wei Zong (Wei Wenqing) put forward the 'French elegance' brand slogan. The customer immediately recognized it.” A person from Dongfeng Citroen told this reporter.

According to data from the Federation of Travel Unions, C5 sold a total of approximately 35,000 vehicles in 2010, ranking second in the B-class market. Its core product, Sega, has annual sales of more than 100,000 vehicles. The annual sales of Elysee, the main model of Dongfeng Citroen, fell to 71,800 vehicles. In the product structure, the current sales of products with a price of more than 100,000 yuan accounted for 64%, which changed the product structure and brand image of low-end vehicles in the past.

"The case of Dongfeng Citroen shows that in the Chinese market, we still have to listen more to the Chinese," said one person in the Shenlong Motor.

It is worth mentioning that in 2010, PSA Asia headquarters moved to Shanghai and a new R&D center was established in Shanghai. “The relocation of headquarters to Shanghai and the construction of R&D centers all reflect PSA's increasing emphasis on China.” A person from PSA’s Ministry of China told this reporter. The relocation of the Asian headquarters to Shanghai will shorten the time for decision making, improve management efficiency, and strengthen investors' confidence. The establishment of the R&D center aims to develop vehicles that are more in line with Chinese customers' needs for the Chinese market.

In 2010, PSA sold 3.6 million vehicles worldwide, an increase of 13% year-on-year. China is the fastest growing global market for PSA with a market share of 3.3%. According to the planning of PSA President Philip Valan, the PSA China business market share target is 8%.