Great Wall Motor's premium EV brand Saloon is relocating its team from Shanghai to Beijing to shorten the distance between the team and Baoding, where Great Wall Motor is headquartered, nbd.com.cn reported Wednesday.

The move has already led to a large number of departures from Saloon's Shanghai team, the report said, adding that larger changes are also in the works for the brand.

Most of the positions Saloon is currently hiring for are concentrated in Beijing and Baoding, such as product planning, administration, marketing, and legal affairs, with only a very few positions based in Shanghai.

And until June this year, most of Saloon's recruiting positions were also concentrated in the Shanghai area, the report noted.

From the current hiring information, Saloon will have two office locations in Beijing, Yizhuang and Daxing. "The plan is to reach 1,000 employees by the end of this year and 2,000 by the end of next year," the report quoted a company insider as saying.

According to the original plan, Saloon's channel layout was to focus on Shanghai and then advance to other first-tier and new first-tier cities. Now the brand is shifting its focus to Beijing and has already started collecting relevant information, an insider said.

According to the original plan, the first half of this year was a period for Saloon to make a push on channels and brands, but because of the relocation these plans had to be changed, the report said.

With Saloon's plan to move to Beijing, its product technology line has also changed. In addition to the previously planned all-electric route, Saloon will also build a hydrogen-fueled model, the report said.

The change is related to Great Wall Motor's recent placement in hydrogen, the report said, adding that over the past six years, Long has invested a total of RMB2 billion ($300 million) in hydrogen research and development, with another RMB3 billion to be invested in the future.

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(Source: Great Wall Motor)