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The position of general manager of Dongfeng Motor Group, which has been vacant for five months, has finally ushered in a new appointment.

On March 27th, Dongfeng Motor announced through official account that Dongfeng Automobile Group Co., Ltd. held a (enlarged) leadership meeting. Entrusted by the leadership of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee, the responsible comrades of the relevant departments of the Organization Department of the CPC Central Committee announced the decision of the CPC Central Committee on the post of general manager of Dongfeng Automobile Group Co., Ltd.: comrade Zhou Zhiping was appointed director, general manager and deputy secretary of the party committee of Dongfeng Automobile Group Co., Ltd., relieved from the post of deputy general manager and party committee standing committee of China first Automobile Group Co., Ltd. The appointment and removal of relevant posts shall be handled in accordance with the provisions of relevant laws and articles of association.

At present, Zhou Zhiping's position has been updated on the official website of Dongfeng Automobile Group. So far, the leading group of Dongfeng Automobile Group is composed of Yang Qing, Zhou Zhiping, Zhang Zutong, you Zheng, Feng Changjun, Chen Hao and Huang Chuan.

In March 2023, Dongfeng Automobile Group Co., Ltd. announced that in accordance with the relevant regulations on the age of central enterprise leaders, Comrade Zhu Yanfeng had been relieved from his post as chairman and party committee secretary of Dongfeng Automobile Group Co., Ltd. Since then, under the background of the vacancy of the chairman of Dongfeng Automobile Group, Yang Qing, the then general manager, temporarily presided over Dongfeng's work. In October of the same year, Dongfeng Automobile Group Co., Ltd. announced the decision of the main leadership adjustment: Yang Qing was appointed chairman and party committee secretary of Dongfeng Automobile Group Co., Ltd., and dismissed from his post as general manager of Dongfeng Automobile Group Co., Ltd. In November of the same year, Dongfeng Group announced on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that Zhu Yanfeng had reached the retirement age and would no longer hold the post of executive director and chairman of the company from November 2, 2023, and Yang Qing would take over.

With the announcement of this appointment, the candidate for the position of general manager of Dongfeng Motor Group, which means that it has been vacant for five months, has finally been settled.

According to the data, Zhou Zhiping was born in January 1971 in Jishui, Jiangxi Province. he joined Communist Party of China in November 1995 and worked in August 1992. He graduated from Beijing Institute of Technology Management Science and Engineering with a doctoral degree and a doctorate in management. senior engineer at the research level.

Reviewing his work experience, Zhou Zhiping has a rich resume. He has successively served as Deputy Director of Motorcycle Department of Development Planning Department of China Arms equipment Group Corporation, Director and Deputy Director of long-term Planning Department, Inspector and Deputy Director and Director of Capital Operation Department of China Arms equipment Group Corporation, Vice Chairman and General Manager of Southern Industrial Asset Management Co., Ltd., and employee Director of China Arms equipment Group Corporation. Director, Party Committee Secretary and Trade Union Chairman of Chongqing Changan Automobile Co., Ltd. In November 2018, Zhou Zhiping was appointed as the employee director of China Arms equipment Group Co., Ltd., the party committee secretary, director and president of China Changan Automobile Group Co., Ltd., and the director of Chongqing Changan Automobile Co., Ltd. General legal adviser and Director of Audit risk Control and legal Department of China Arms equipment Group Corporation.

Prior to this appointment, Zhou Zhiping was appointed member of the standing Committee and Deputy General Manager of the Party Committee of China first Automobile Group Co., Ltd. in September 2021 and Executive Vice President of Red Flag Brand Operations Committee since October 2023.

According to the official website, Dongfeng Automobile Group Co., Ltd. is a super-large automobile enterprise under the direct management of the central government, the predecessor of which was founded in the second automobile factory in 1969. In September 1992, it changed its name to Dongfeng Motor Company. In September 2003, the headquarters moved from Shiyan, Hubei to Wuhan. In November 2017, it changed its name to Dongfeng Automobile Group Co., Ltd.

At present, most of the Dongfeng Automobile Group Co., Ltd. are joint venture brands, the main joint venture brands include Dongfeng Nissan, Dongfeng Honda, Dongfeng Infiniti, Shenlong Automobile, in which the joint venture brand is the main source of Dongfeng automobile sales; independent brands include Dongfeng Lantu, Dongfeng Fengshen, Dongfeng New Energy, Dongfeng Hong, and so on.

Data show that in 2023, Dongfeng Motor Group Co., Ltd. accumulated sales of 2.0882 million vehicles, down about 15.27% from the same period last year; parent company Dongfeng Automobile Group Co., Ltd. accumulated car sales of 2.4212 million vehicles, down about 17% from the same period last year; subsidiary Dongfeng Motor Co., Ltd. accumulated car sales of 151300 vehicles, an increase of 15.78% over the same period last year. Among the subdivided brands, the cumulative sales of Dongfeng Nissan (including Dongfeng Infiniti and Qichen) in 2023 were 723100, down 21.53% from the same period last year, while the sales of Dongfeng Honda, another Japanese joint venture brand, was 604800, down 8.54% from the same period last year. In addition, DPCA also showed a significant decline, with total sales of 80300 vehicles in 2023, a year-on-year drop of 35.81%, making it the largest joint venture brand under Dongfeng Motor Co.

As for the reasons for the decline in sales of Dongfeng Group's brands, "Automotive Industry concern" believes that in addition to the sharp decline in domestic traditional fuel vehicle market share, the main reason is the slow progress of the group's new energy vehicle products.

Although Dongfeng Motor is not late in the transformation of new energy, its terminal sales of new energy vehicles are not good. Data show that for the whole of 2023, easyit New Energy fell 25.08 per cent year on year to 74500 vehicles, while Lantu car sales increased by 159.08 per cent year on year to 50300 vehicles. Although Lantu Automobile has increased significantly compared with the same period last year, it is still a far cry from the new car-building forces in the mainstream of the car market, and this growth is tantamount to a drop in the bucket for the decline in sales of the entire Dongfeng Group.

In August 2023, Dongfeng Motor announced the launch of the new energy strategy of Dongfeng passenger vehicles and made a major adjustment to the new energy management system of independent passenger vehicles. After the adjustment, Dongfeng Motor will manage Dongfeng Fengshen, Dongfeng e π and Dongfeng Nano in an integrated way. At this point, Dongfeng Motor will form "Dongfeng" brand, "Lantu" brand and "fierce" brand in the field of independent passenger cars, which will face the mainstream market, high-end new energy market and luxury electric off-road market respectively.

Earlier this month, Dongfeng Group shares issued a "profit warning" announcement. According to the announcement, compared with the net profit of $10.265 billion for the 12 months ended December 31, 2022, the Company expects the loss of net profit for the 12 months ended December 31, 2023 not to exceed $4 billion. According to the announcement, the reasons for the performance changes include, first, the market space of joint venture non-luxury brands has been significantly squeezed and product prices continue to decline. In 2023, the sales volume of the group's joint venture business fell by 16%, and profits dropped significantly; second, the group's new energy business is still in the strategic investment period, and investment in new energy, intelligent R & D, brand and channel construction continues to increase in 2023.

"fuel vehicle sales decline, slow electric transformation" is not only a difficult problem faced by traditional car companies, but also an urgent problem to be solved by Dongfeng Group shares. For Dongfeng, in the environment of fierce competition, we should reduce our dependence on joint venture brands as soon as possible and catch up with the opportunity of the rapid development of domestic new energy or the key to its transformation and breakthrough. However, combined with Dongfeng Motor's sales performance of new energy vehicles in 2023, Dongfeng still has a long way to go to rely on new energy to achieve growth. In this context, including Yang Qing and other management burden on the shoulder, and after Zhou Zhiping took office, "Dongfeng Motor follow-up sales growth" will also become an important task.

It is understood that this year is a key year for Dongfeng Motor to accelerate its transformation and upgrading. For this year's sales forecast, Dongfeng Motor's board of directors initially set the group's annual sales target at 2.7 million vehicles, an increase of about 29% compared with 2023. Among them, passenger vehicle sales target is 2.28 million, an increase of about 30.7% over 2023; commercial vehicle sales target is 420000, an increase of about 20.7% over 2023.

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