The stability of leadership is often seen as a cornerstone of corporate strategy, especially within the fiercely competitive and capital-intensive global automotive sector. For international investors and industry analysts tracking Chinese equities, executive changes at major players like Great Wall Motors (长城汽车) serve as critical indicators of internal health, strategic direction, and future performance potential. The recent installation of the ninth chief executive for the company’s premium Wey (魏牌) brand has ignited fresh scrutiny, raising questions not just about management continuity but about the fundamental strategy for achieving success in the high-stakes arena of new energy and intelligent vehicles. Chairman Wei Jianjun’s (魏建军) candid response—that the 一车多动力、一车多品类 (one vehicle, multiple powertrains and categories) platform strategy is central to their global ambitions—provides a crucial lens through which to assess the company’s path forward amidst this leadership churn.
Decoding the Wey Brand CEO Carousel: Pressure, Performance, and Internal Promotion
The elevation of Zhao Yongpo (赵永坡) marks the ninth leadership change at the helm of the Wey brand since its inception. This pattern reveals a distinct trend: external hires often depart after short tenures, frequently succeeded by internal Great Wall veterans. For instance, the previous CEO, Feng Fuzhi (冯复之), served for merely eight months. This revolving door at the top has become a focal point for market observers trying to gauge the brand’s operational challenges.
Chairman Wei’s Candid Explanation: A Crucible of Complexity
Addressing the issue directly, Chairman Wei Jianjun refuted notions of forced dismissals in a December 22nd media interview. He framed the role as exceptionally demanding, requiring a comprehensive skill set to manage a brand that intricately connects R&D, production, supply chain, sales, and service. “It is indeed not that we fired them or didn’t let them do the job anymore; they themselves felt tremendous pressure,” Wei stated, as reported by National Business Daily (每日经济新闻). This admission highlights the immense challenge of steering a premium automotive brand in China’s fast-evolving market, where technological shifts and consumer expectations create a high-pressure environment that not every executive can withstand.
The Pattern: Shorter Tenures and the Internal Safety Net
The observable pattern of decreasing tenure for external hires followed by swift internal succession suggests two dynamics. First, the specific challenges of the Wey brand—its positioning, technological integration, and sales model transition—may have a steep learning curve that external candidates struggle to navigate quickly. Second, it underscores Great Wall Motors’ deep bench of managerial talent and its preference for promoting leaders who are already steeped in the company’s culture and engineering-centric philosophy. This internal resilience ensures continuity but also prompts questions about whether fresh external perspectives can ever take root long enough to effect transformative change.
The Strategic Linchpin: Wei Jianjun’s “One Vehicle, Multiple Powertrains” Vision
Amidst the management discussions, Chairman Wei Jianjun is actively steering the strategic narrative toward a bold technical vision. He has publicly emphasized that the future of Wey, and brands like Ora (欧拉), lies in the 一车多动力、一车多品类 (one vehicle, multiple powertrains and categories) development route. This approach aims to cover nearly all powertrain forms—gasoline, diesel, hybrid (HEV), plug-in hybrid (PHEV), and pure electric (BEV)—on a single vehicle platform, excluding only hydrogen fuel cell for now.
Operationalizing the Platform Strategy
The recently launched Ora 5 serves as a live prototype for this strategy. It is offered not just as a BEV, but also with Internal Combustion Engine (ICE), HEV, and PHEV options. “If we detach from specific scenarios and use a single route to cover all users, it is difficult to adapt to the global market,” Wei argued. The logic is compelling: by offering multiple powertrains under one design and platform, Great Wall can:
- Address diverse global market regulations and consumer energy preferences simultaneously.
- Achieve significant economies of scale and cost control through high levels of platform commonality and parts sharing.
- Mitigate market risk by not being overly reliant on the adoption speed of any single energy technology.
This 一车多动力、一车多品类 (one vehicle, multiple powertrains and categories) philosophy represents a massive bet on flexible manufacturing and strategic foresight, requiring substantial upfront R&D investment but promising wider market coverage and resilience.
Wey’s Market Performance: Signs of Life Amidst Transition
Despite the leadership instability, recent sales data suggests the Wey brand is experiencing a tangible resurgence, largely attributed to a shift in its sales approach and new product launches. This positive momentum provides crucial context for the latest CEO change.
Sales Revival Driven by Direct Sales and New Models
The brand’s decision to invest heavily in a direct-to-consumer sales model, with over 2 billion RMB committed according to Wei, appears to be yielding results. In November, Wey reported sales of 12,800 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 81.14%. A key driver has been the new Wey Gaoshan (高山) MPV, which has seen monthly sales exceed 10,000 units for two consecutive months. For the first eleven months of the year, Wey’s cumulative sales reached approximately 89,000 units, surging 93.94% year-on-year—the highest growth rate among all Great Wall Motor brands.
The Premium Pricing Paradox
Chairman Wei revealed a significant data point regarding the company’s market positioning: “Currently, Great Wall is the automaker with the highest average selling price among China’s established car companies.” He stated that including overseas markets, the average price exceeds 180,000 RMB, and for the domestic market alone, it reaches about 200,000 RMB. He was quick to clarify that this premium is not derived from brand value but from “category value and products.” This distinction is vital; it means Great Wall commands higher prices due to product capability (e.g., off-road performance, technology features) rather than brand cachet, a gap the company is keenly aware of and aims to bridge.
The Elusive Goal: Building a Genuine Premium Brand
Wei Jianjun offered a stark assessment of the Chinese auto industry’s brand landscape, a view that directly frames Wey’s long-term challenge. “In fact, China strictly speaking does not yet have premium brands… we all have premium products. Up to now, there should not be a brand with added value,” he remarked. This candid admission underscores the core mission for Wey: transitioning from selling high-priced, well-equipped products to cultivating a brand that commands genuine premium value and consumer loyalty in the minds of users.
Technology as the Foundation for Premiumization
The chairman outlined the non-negotiable prerequisites. A premium brand must first have premium products with high technological content; attempting to build a premium brand with low-end products is impossible. Wey’s recent launches, like the new Lanshan (蓝山) Smart Advanced Edition, embody this tech-forward approach. It features a VLA (Visual-Language-Action) large model enabling advanced voice control, CoT reasoning cards, defensive driving prompts, and special scenario understanding—placing it among the few models in China, alongside offerings from Xpeng and Li Auto, to deploy such technology.
The Long and Winding Road to Brand Equity
Wei acknowledged the extreme difficulty of this endeavor, noting that managing an automotive brand is far more complex than other industries due to rapid technological iteration and diverse business operations. The billions invested in the direct sales network are a testament to this commitment, aimed at controlling the customer experience and gathering critical data. The frequent CEO changes can be interpreted as symptomatic of the intense pressure to crack this code—to move beyond being a product-led contender to becoming a desirable, resilient brand in a segment dominated by global legends and agile domestic EV startups.
The narrative unfolding at Great Wall Motors’ Wey brand is a microcosm of the broader transformation in the Chinese auto industry. The installation of a ninth CEO points to persistent executional challenges in a cutthroat market. However, Chairman Wei Jianjun’s unwavering focus on the radical 一车多动力、一车多品类 (one vehicle, multiple powertrains and categories) platform strategy presents a coherent, long-term technical vision aimed at global relevance and cost efficiency. For investors, the critical factors to monitor are the tangible commercialization of this flexible platform across models, the sustainability of Wey’s sales recovery under new leadership, and any concrete progress in building intangible brand equity that transcends product specifications. The company’s ability to stabilize its leadership while executing on this complex technical ambition will ultimately determine whether Wey can evolve from a portfolio of premium products into the genuine premium brand that Wei Jianjun envisions. The road ahead remains arduous, but the strategic direction, centered on platform flexibility and technological depth, is now clearly articulated.