Xpeng has appointed former brand head Li Pengcheng as assistant to the CEO, reporting to chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng, according to local media.
Xpeng Motors' ongoing organizational restructuring is nearing completion, local media Cailian reported today, citing sources familiar with the matter.
Xpeng last week has appointed former brand head Li Pengcheng as assistant to the CEO, reporting to chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng, according to the report, which did not provide further details.
On October 21, Jiemian cited several people familiar with the matter as saying that Xpeng was making organizational restructuring, with the biggest change being that it will move to a business unit-based management structure to improve the previous overly centralized structure that dragged down operational efficiency.
The round of restructuring involves business units including UDS (user development and service center), product planning and marketing and PR departments, the report said.
The business unit under the marketing and PR department, which was originally responsible for corporate image, will be upgraded to a first-tier department and will no longer be assigned to Xpeng's vice president of marketing, Mr. Li, as previously reported by Jiemian.
Xpeng's head of procurement and senior director of marketing and commerce, Xiang Ying, will be responsible only for procurement and no longer for marketing and commerce-related work, according to the report.
The immediate reason for Xpeng's latest organizational restructuring is the problems with the G9 launch -- complex and incomprehensible product SKUs, product planning divorced from user needs and marketing failures, Jiemian's report quoted a source familiar with the matter as saying.
With this move, Mr. He hopes to improve the previous overly centralized management across the board, reduce communication costs and get close to users to understand real user needs, the report said.
In a November 1 press release announcing Xpeng's October delivery figures, Mr. He mentioned that he had recently made organizational changes to the company.
"I've recently optimized our organizational structures and am confident that we are better aligned with customer demands and market trends with our differentiated Smart EV products," Mr. He said at the time.
Xpeng delivered 5,101 vehicles in October, down 39.76 percent from 8,468 in September and down 49.68 percent from 10,138 in the same month last year.
This delivery volume included 2,104 P7 sedans, 1,665 P5 sedans and 709 G3i SUVs.
Xpeng's flagship SUV, the G9, had 623 deliveries in October, with mass deliveries of the model starting on October 27.
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