Dongfeng Group is running out of patience？ Lantu Auto is in turmoil again

　　After less than a year, Lantu Automobile once again ushered in a round of senior management changes.

　　On May 15, the power plant reporter received confirmation from the official that Yu Fei, the general manager of sales of Lantu Automobile, and Liu Zhanshu, the deputy general manager of sales, had both left around May Day. According to the power plant’s understanding, this is another management change within Lantu Automobile after the large-scale organizational structure adjustment of Dongfeng last July. In addition to the two senior executives of the marketing department, this personnel adjustment also involves a number of middle managers of the marketing department.

　　According to public information, Liu and Yu joined Lantu in June and July last year respectively. Before that, they had both worked in the automotive industry for many years. Yu Fei is a veteran of the Great Wall department and served as the general manager of marketing of the Ola brand under the Great Wall, while Liu Zhanshu is the old partner of Lantu CEO Lu Fang. He has served many well-known brands such as FAW-Volkswagen Audi, SAIC-GM Buick, and Extreme Krypton Automobile.

　　As for the reason for leaving, Liu Zhanshu told the power plant that his family is in Shanghai, and it is difficult to take care of his family in Wuhan for a long time. In his internal letter when he left in early April, he also said that "after drifting outside for more than two years, it is time to return." Regarding his experience during his tenure, he said in the letter that "Landmap is the shortest working time and the largest workload in my career, and of course the most rewarding experience."

　　According to Liu Zhanshu, there are indeed many problems within Landmap, and there is still a lot of basic work that needs to be improved, but there are opportunities in technology, products and other aspects. In this regard, a middle-level person who left the company told the power plant that the biggest problem of Landmap is that the group controls too strictly. "What choices are made internally are given by parents, and they are very strong opinions." He believes that Liu Zhanshu does not fit well with this working atmosphere.

　　As a high-end electric brand under Dongfeng, Lantu is similar to Zhiji under SAIC and Extreme Krypton under Geely. Lantu is alsoUnder the impact of the electric vehicle wave, the product is not only the pioneer of the latter’s electric vehicle transformation, but also carries the latter’s dream of high-end impact. Since its independent operation in June 2021, Lantu Automobile has released a total of three products, but the market sales have always been unsatisfactory.

　　The data shows that the first model of Lantu, Lantu FREE, was delivered in August 2021. The cumulative sales volume in 2021 was only 6791 units. The second model, Lantu Dreamer, was delivered in July 2022. The cumulative sales volume of the two vehicles in 2022 was only 19,400 units, only 62% of the annual sales target. This year, the sales target set by Lantu is 40,000 – 60,000 units. As of April, Lantu actually completed only 9021 units.

　　Among them, in March this year, Dongfeng Group and the Hubei government launched the "strongest car purchase season in history" subsidy activity, covering Dongfeng Citroen, Dongfeng Peugeot, Dongfeng Nissan, Dongfeng Honda, Dongfeng Fengshen and other brands. The maximum comprehensive subsidy is as high as 90,000 yuan, while the starting price of Lantu Dreamer is directly reduced by 40,000 yuan to 329,900 yuan. Even so, the sales volume of Lantu Automobile in the month is only 3027 vehicles.

　　In July last year, Dongfeng Group made its first personnel adjustment to Lantu, involving a total of six executives. Among them, Lu Fang, CEO of Lantu Automobile, no longer served as CTO, and was replaced by Wang Junjun, an old man in the Dongfeng department. In addition, the leadership team of Dongfeng Department, Qin Jie, Liu Mingjiao, Gong Xuesong, and Shao Mingfeng, also took up positions in Lantu. Yu and Liu, who left this time, also joined during this period.

　　However, as the paratroopers represented by Yu and Liu left one after another, the marketing authority of Lantu was also handed back to Shao Mingfeng, an executive of the Dongfeng Department. So far, the senior management team of Lantu, except for Lu Fang, is basically the leadership team of the Dongfeng Department. In this regard, the above-mentioned mid-level people who left told the power plant that now, Lu Fang’s internal real power is also limited, but if "President Lu leaves, it will really be a state-owned enterprise".

　　Judging from the signals revealed by Lu Fang, the operating pressure exerted by Dongfeng Group is not small. At the Shanghai Auto Show in April, Lu Zai said in an interview with the power plant and other media that each company’s birth environment is different, and how to use existing resource endowments to complete market competition is a problem that each company needs to think about. Although it is also learning from the experience of its peers internally, the difficulty of Landmap is to solve the problem within a certain framework.

　　A typical example is the funding problem. The above-mentioned mid-level people pointed out that the internal knows that there is a problem, but to solve the problem will cost money. According to public information, after two years of independent operation, Lantu completed a round of external financing in November last year, with a financing amount of 4.55 billion yuan. Among them, Dongfeng Motor invested 900 million yuan. After the investment, the shareholding ratio is still as high as 78.88%, and it is still the absolute controlling shareholder.

　　According to NIO founder Li Bin, the capital threshold for car building has been pulled to 40 billion. For Landmap, external financing of only 3.65 billion yuan will not last long, and it needs to be backed by Dongfeng Group’s continuous blood transfusion, which has many restrictions on the attributes of state-owned enterprises. The above-mentioned mid-level person pointed out that maintaining the status quo may be the best choice. "If you really want to make a big change, there may be certain risks to Landmap."

　　In addition to the loss of independent operating space, the above-mentioned mid-level people pointed out that another problem of Landmap is that Dongfeng Department is too eager to achieve success. In this regard, a number of users who are certified as Landmap employees broke the news on social media that not only do they frequently change management, but also frequently change the employee appraisal system. The appraisal system implemented is often opaque, and there was even a problem of temporarily changing the performance coefficient around November last year.

　　This behavior has been interpreted by many users as disguised layoffs. In March this year, Lantu Auto has launched a round of layoffs, involving multiple departments such as outbound calls and sales support. Lantu has responded to the power plant, and this wave of adjustments has been settled before the auto show. According to the revelations, at present, the normal elimination rate of Lantu Auto at the end of the quarter is around 5%, and with the new round of executive adjustments, Lantu may usher in a new round of personnel turmoil.