Xpeng product "veteran" resigns
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Author | Wang Xiaojuan
Editor | Zhou Zhiyu
Frequent personnel changes in the auto industry continue.
Recently, there are reports that Chen Yonghai, Vice President of the Product Center at XPeng Motors, has left his position as of December 2025, with President Wang Fengying temporarily taking over. As of the time of publication, XPeng has not officially responded to this incident.
It is understood that Chen Yonghai is not an ordinary professional manager, but an old partner who has known XPeng Motors Chairman and CEO He Xiaopeng for 15 years, fighting side by side since the UC era.
Reviewing the trajectory, Chen Yonghai's career is deeply tied to He Xiaopeng. In 2010, he joined UC as Product Supervisor, and after Alibaba’s acquisition, moved on to 360 and AutoNavi.
In January 2022, he joined XPeng Motors, coinciding with a critical juncture as the company’s product system faced restructuring.
In September of that year, the much-anticipated flagship model, the XPeng G9, faced setbacks upon launch. Due to complicated SKU designations, complex selection logic, and pricing issues, XPeng had to revise the configuration and pricing just two days after the launch event.
At the time, the G9’s failure dragged XPeng into trouble and exposed deeper issues in the company's organizational management. It was at this moment that Chen Yonghai was ordered to take charge in crisis, switching to lead the Product Center, becoming the “firefighter” after the G9 launch debacle in 2022. After he took over, the team expanded from dozens to three to four hundred people, gradually developing into a comprehensive major product department.
After the G9 debacle, He Xiaopeng began to emphasize organizational capability more than ever.
In January 2023, Wang Fengying joined XPeng Motors as President, fully responsible for product planning, sales system, and supply chain business. Known as the “Iron Lady of the auto industry”, she had worked at Great Wall Motors for 31 years and brought rich automotive experience.
While bringing in important figures, a large number of people also left. In September 2023, He Xiaopeng waged a second battle for the G9 in Dunhuang. In his speech at that time, he conducted a series of reflections on the G9 setback, pointing out seven issues from product definition to user insight, price setting, marketing and communication rhythm, channel management, organizational development, and ultimately the delivery stage.
The organization was considered the most critical issue by He Xiaopeng. At the time, he said: “Last year (2022), XPeng had 12 senior executives in its listed company’s financial report, but as of now, only two remain.” This period was regarded as XPeng’s “ICU” phase by the outside world.
In the years that followed, He Xiaopeng continued to stress organizational capability and internal XPeng underwent several major organizational changes.
A representative instance occurred at the start of 2024, when Wang Fengying led a new round of structural adjustments at XPeng Motors, involving departments such as marketing, human resources, intelligent data, manufacturing, and product planning.
At that time, former Data Intelligence Center (DIC) head Huang Ronghai took charge of human resources, while former HR head Chen Dan had already left XPeng; former Great Wall Motors manufacturing GM Zhang Li joined XPeng, replacing the retired Jiang Ping and taking over production and manufacturing...
Overall, outsiders linked XPeng’s overall positive trajectory to the organizational changes. After a series of organizational changes, as the XPeng MONA M03 became a blockbuster model, XPeng entered a phase of fair winds starting from the second half of 2024.
By 2025, many of XPeng’s new and updated models gained considerable market recognition, resulting in monthly deliveries stabilizing at over 30,000 units. For the whole of 2025, XPeng exceeded its early-year target, delivering nearly 430,000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 126%.
Reflected in the financial data, XPeng’s quarterly revenue in Q3 2025 surpassed 20 billion yuan for the first time, with a comprehensive gross margin reaching 20%, and net losses sharply narrowed to 380 million yuan. Achieving quarterly profitability is only a step away.
XPeng’s executive changes are not unique in the industry. According to industry statistics, in 2025, the auto industry experienced key position adjustments on average every two days, with 327 senior executives changing roles at the end of the year alone.
The focus of industry competition has shifted. In the first half it was about technological breakthroughs and speed to market, while in the second half, the focus is on system operation efficiency, sustainable profitability, and globalization capabilities. Competition in XPeng’s core price segment is now white hot, with the industry’s average per-car price also continuing to drop.
The policy environment is also changing. The NEV purchase tax reduction is about to be phased out, and the market will fully turn to product competitiveness as its driver. This sets higher demands for automakers in terms of product strategy, cost control, and globalization layout.
He Xiaopeng believes that to maintain competitiveness, XPeng Motors must pay attention to four key areas: technological strength, comprehensive system capability, business capability, and globalization.
“With major technology advances every three years, focusing on technological platform development is imperative. In addition, optimizing organizational processes and tools is the foundation for corporate success.” He also emphasized the importance of capital efficiency and pricing power in the market. Regarding global ambitions, He Xiaopeng hopes that in the next ten years, half of XPeng’s sales revenue will come from markets outside China.
In He Xiaopeng's view, the auto industry competition in 2026 will be even more brutal. Saying goodbye to “old XPeng friends” now is just the beginning—the real tough battles lie ahead for XPeng.
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