Brand development faces challenges? Great Wall Weipai CEO Chen Siying resigns, just 8 months after being appointed

Recently, Chen Siying, CEO of Weipai, a high-end brand under Great Wall Motors, and general manager of Tank and Weipai marketing, announced on Weibo that he was leaving the company due to family reasons. He also thanked the Weipai team for their support and dedication, and expressed regret for not being able to witness the upcoming Weipai Alpine model.

Chen Siying is a senior automotive marketing professional who has held key sales positions for many brands including Nanjing Fiat, Nanjing MG, SAIC Passenger Vehicle, Beijing Auto, Qoros Auto and Lynk & Co.

In January this year, he joined Great Wall Motors as CEO of Weipai and general manager of marketing for the Tank brand. During his tenure, Weipai launched three hybrid SUV models, namely Blue Mountain, New Mocha and Alpine, and received good market feedback.

However, after only eight months in office, Chen Siying chose to leave. This is the seventh time that Weipai has changed its senior management in the seven years since its establishment. This makes people wonder whether Weipai, as a high-end brand of Great Wall Motors, is facing difficulties and challenges in its development.

It is understood that since its establishment in 2016, WEY has used the name WEY to promote the slogan of "China's No. 1 luxury SUV brand" and launched popular models such as VV7, VV5, and VV6, breaking the monopoly of joint venture brands on the 150,000-200,000 SUV market. In 2018, WEY's annual sales reached 139,000 vehicles, a year-on-year increase of 61.6%.

However, after the SUV market dividend gradually faded, Weipai did not form sustained competitiveness and differentiated advantages. Its product strength is not significantly ahead of joint ventures or independent brands of the same level in terms of appearance, configuration, fuel consumption, etc. Its brand influence has not established a high-end luxury image, and it is difficult to compete with internationally renowned brands or domestic new power brands. Its sales channels are also relatively imperfect and diversified, and mainly rely on offline sales.

Therefore, between 2019 and 2022, Wei brand's sales continued to decline, reaching 100,000, 78,500, 58,300 and 36,400 vehicles respectively.

Even in 2021, Weipai launched technology brands such as Lemon Hybrid DHT and Coffee Intelligence, and named new models such as Mocha, Macchiato, and Latte after coffee, but it did not reverse the sales decline. On the contrary, this overly novel naming method has confused and disapproved consumers.

In order to respond to market changes and consumer demand, Weipai announced a brand transformation in early 2021. After obtaining the transfer of BYD's "Wei" trademark, it redefined its brand name as "Weipai" and positioned its goal as a "new generation of smart cars", attempting to challenge new brands such as Weilai and Ideal with the heritage and intelligent technology of traditional manufacturers. At the same time, Weipai also plans to launch sedan models to expand its product line and market coverage.

However, from the current situation, Weipai's brand transformation has not achieved the expected results. The performance of its new models in the market is still unsatisfactory, its intelligent technology has not formed obvious advantages and differences, and its sedan models have not left a deep impression. Moreover, Weipai's trump card technologies, such as Lemon Hybrid DHT and Coffee Intelligence, have been planned to be installed on other Great Wall brands such as Haval and Ora. This means that Weipai will face more internal competition and external pressure in the future.

Therefore, 91che believes that the departure of Weipai CEO Chen Siying may not only be due to family and personal reasons, but also reflects the difficulties and challenges of brand development. As a high-end brand of Great Wall Motors, if Weipai wants to achieve the high-end road, it must comprehensively improve and innovate in product strength, brand strength, channel strength, etc., and find its own unique core competitiveness and market positioning. Otherwise, Weipai may fall into an embarrassing situation of being neither high nor low, and it will be difficult to break through.

As a winner of Toutiao's Qingyun Plan and Baijiahao's Bai+ Plan, the 2019 Baidu Digital Author of the Year, the Baijiahao's Most Popular Author in the Technology Field, the 2019 Sogou Technology and Culture Author, and the 2021 Baijiahao Quarterly Influential Creator, he has won many awards, including the 2013 Sohu Best Industry Media Person, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Beijing Third Place, the 2015 Guangmang Experience Award, the 2015 China New Media Entrepreneurship Competition Finals Third Place, and the 2018 Baidu Dynamic Annual Powerful Celebrity.