XPeng product "veteran" resigns

Author | Wang Xiaojun

Editor | Zhou Zhiyu

Frequent personnel changes in the automotive industry continue.

Recently, it was reported that Chen Yonghai, Vice President of the Product Center at XPeng, has left the company as of December 2025, with President Wang Fengying temporarily taking over his position. As of the time of publication, XPeng has not responded to this event.

It is understood that Chen Yonghai is not an ordinary professional manager, but an old partner who has known XPeng's Chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng for 15 years, having fought alongside him since the UC era.

A review reveals that Chen Yonghai's career has been deeply tied to He Xiaopeng. He joined UC as a product manager in 2010 and, after Alibaba's acquisition, moved through 360 and AutoNavi.

In January 2022, he joined XPeng at a critical juncture when the company's product system was facing reconstruction.

In September of that year, the flagship model XPeng G9, which was highly anticipated, encountered setbacks upon its launch. Due to complicated SKU settings, complex configuration logic, and pricing issues, XPeng was forced to modify the configuration and pricing just two days after the launch event.

At that time, the failure of the G9 caused XPeng to fall into a quagmire and exposed deep-seated organizational management issues. It was at this moment that Chen Yonghai was appointed to take charge of the Product Center, becoming the "firefighter" after the G9's launch failure in 2022. After he took over, the team expanded from dozens to three to four hundred people, gradually developing into a comprehensive product department.

After the G9 incident, He Xiaopeng began to emphasize organizational capability building.

In January 2023, Wang Fengying joined XPeng as President, fully responsible for product planning, sales systems, and supply chain operations. This industry veteran, known as the "Iron Lady of the Automotive Industry," had worked at Great Wall Motors for 31 years and possesses rich experience in the automotive sector.

While important figures were brought in, a large number of people also left. In September 2023, He Xiaopeng reflected on the G9's failure during a speech at Dunhuang, summarizing a series of insights from product definition to user needs, from pricing to marketing and communication rhythm, including channel management, organizational construction, and the final delivery phase.

He Xiaopeng believes that organization is the most critical issue. At that time, he stated, "In last year's (2022) XPeng public company's financial report, there were 12 executives, and now only two remain." This period has been viewed by outsiders as XPeng's "ICU" phase.

In the following years, He Xiaopeng has consistently emphasized organizational capabilities, and several significant organizational changes have occurred within XPeng.

A representative change occurred in early 2024 when Wang Fengying led a new round of organizational restructuring at XPeng, involving multiple departments including marketing, human resources, intelligent data, production, and product planning.

At that time, Huang Ronghai, the original head of the Data Intelligence Center (DIC), was responsible for the human resources department, while the former head of human resources, Chen Dan, had already left XPeng; former Great Wall Motors Manufacturing General Manager Zhang Li joined XPeng to succeed the retired Jiang Ping, responsible for production...

Overall, the external perception links XPeng's overall positive trend to organizational changes. After a series of organizational adjustments, with the XPeng MONA M03 becoming a hit model, XPeng began to enter a favorable period starting in the second half of 2024 By 2025, many of XPeng's revamped models and new cars have received relatively good market recognition, allowing its monthly delivery volume to stabilize above 30,000 units. For the entire year of 2025, XPeng also exceeded its initial annual target, with deliveries nearing 430,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 126%.

This is reflected in the financial data; in the third quarter of 2025, XPeng's revenue surpassed 20 billion yuan for the first time, with a comprehensive gross margin reaching 20%, and net losses significantly narrowed to 380 million yuan. It is just one step away from achieving quarterly profitability.

The executive changes at XPeng are not an isolated case in the industry. According to industry statistics, in 2025, there was an average of one key position adjustment every two days in the automotive industry, with a total of 327 executives changing positions by the end of the year.

The focus of industry competition has shifted. The first half was about technological breakthroughs and product rollout speed, while the second half focuses on operational efficiency, sustainable profitability, and globalization capabilities. The competition in the core price range where XPeng operates has entered a heated phase, and the average price per vehicle in the industry is also declining further.

The policy environment is also changing. The tax exemption policy for new energy vehicle purchases is about to decline, and the market will fully shift to competition driven by product competitiveness. This raises higher demands on automakers' product strategies, cost control, and globalization layout.

He Xiaopeng believes that to maintain competitiveness, XPeng needs to focus on four key aspects: technological strength, comprehensive system capabilities, business capabilities, and globalization.

"With significant technological advancements every three years, focusing on the development of technology platforms is crucial. Additionally, optimizing organizational processes and tools is the foundation for a company's success." He also emphasized the importance of capital utilization efficiency and market pricing power. Regarding globalization goals, He Xiaopeng hopes that within the next decade, half of XPeng's sales will come from markets outside of China.

In He Xiaopeng's view, competition in the automotive industry will become even more brutal in 2026. The current farewell to "old Peng friends" is just the beginning; XPeng's real tough battles are still ahead