The "young marshal" of BYD's marketing, who was cultivated by Wang Chuanfu for 16 years, has left the company.

BYD's "BBA", the first person in charge of the high - end brand Denza, has confirmed his departure.

Not long ago, after Wang Chuanfu repeatedly expressed his dissatisfaction and anxiety about Denza's current situation, Zhao Changjiang, who was once entrusted with the task of successfully "restarting" the Denza brand, was suddenly transferred from the position of brand head. The signal released externally was "horizontal transfer and rotation".

Just three months later, Zhao Changjiang chose to resign voluntarily and left BYD, where he had worked for more than 16 years since graduation.

Although, he was once regarded by the outside world as the most promising post - 80s executive within BYD.

Zhao Changjiang bids farewell to BYD

For some time, the rumor of Zhao Changjiang's departure has been rife. Even more than a month ago, there was news that Zhao Changjiang could no longer be found in BYD's internal OA system.

It wasn't until he officially posted a message that the news of his departure was confirmed:

The resignation announcement clearly stated "due to personal reasons" without revealing the slightest bit of complaint. A screenshot of an unconfirmed "BYD internal announcement" circulating online shows that Zhao Changjiang voluntarily resigned:

In his Weibo post, Zhao Changjiang carefully reviewed his 16 - year journey at BYD, which almost covered the entire history of BYD's rise:

From the exploration in the fuel - vehicle era, to the early exploration of the new - energy market, then to promoting the rise of the Tang and Han series, and Denza firing the first shot in the self - owned high - end MPV market and becoming the sales champion, etc.

Of course, he also thanked Wang Chuanfu for his trust and support.

Zhao Changjiang's final position before leaving BYD was General Manager of the Denza Fangchengbao Direct - sales Division, which was the result of the "rotation" when he left the position of General Manager of the Denza brand three months ago.

Judging from Zhao's resume, sales was his original line of work. To some extent, the job transfer allowed him to return to his "comfort zone".

But this young general, who started from a grass - roots salesperson and worked his way up to the head of a high - end brand, almost without hesitation gave up this kind of "preferential treatment".

The fire - fighting captain of Denza finally failed at Denza

Zhao Changjiang was born in 1986 in Liuyang, Hunan. He graduated from Central South University. He is an alumnus of BYD boss Wang Chuanfu, but there is a gap of nearly 20 graduating classes.

As soon as he graduated in 2009, Zhao Changjiang joined BYD and became a regional sales manager of BYD cars.

In BYD's first official book "The Soul of an Engineer", the first story about Zhao Changjiang was at the beginning of the launch of BYD's first three - engine, four - wheel - drive, dual - mode SUV, the Tang DM.

At that time, due to its relatively high price, the Tang DM faced a situation of "good reviews but poor sales". However, Zhao Changjiang, who was then the sales regional manager of the North China Marketing Department, achieved the result of selling 800 Tang DMs in the Xi'an market.

The next year, he was promoted to the marketing director of the Beijing - Tianjin region.

Coincidentally, with the favorable policies, new - energy vehicles in core cities represented by Beijing began to gain momentum. During this period, Zhao Changjiang accumulated the most important performance capital for his promotion at BYD - within more than a year, the sales volume of BYD in the Beijing - Tianjin region increased tenfold, and the market share exceeded 35%.

Thanks to his good performance in the Beijing - Tianjin region, just two years later, 31 - year - old Zhao Changjiang had a "triple - jump" in his position. In 2017, he became the youngest general manager of the sales company in BYD's history and also the youngest sales leader in Chinese auto enterprises at that time.

This made a group of "veterans" in the sales system who were four or five graduating classes older than Zhao Changjiang and joined BYD right after graduation all become his subordinates.

At the beginning of 2021, BYD issued an external announcement that the sales company was split into four. Four key figures who joined BYD around 2003 and 2004, Lu Tian (Dynasty), Zhang Zhuo (Ocean), Li Yunfei (Public Relations), and Gao Zikai (After - sales), each took charge of a division.

Zhao Changjiang, who previously managed the entire large - scale sales business, was entrusted with a new important task by Wang Chuanfu - to establish a high - end brand, which is now Yangwang.

But then, BYD's internal strategy changed. Zhao Changjiang was quickly transferred to Denza and entrusted with the heavy responsibility of "restarting" it.

Denza Auto was jointly founded in 2011 by Daimler, the parent company of Mercedes - Benz, and BYD. It was one of the earliest pioneers in the mid - to - high - end new - energy vehicle market.

In 2011, the name of Mercedes - Benz Daimler was obviously more well - known and more valuable than BYD.

However, limited by the objective factors in the early stage of the industry's development, Denza's market performance fell far short of the expectations of the two major shareholders. From 2014 to 2018, Denza accumulated losses of more than 3.5 billion yuan in five years.

In fact, both BYD and Daimler had made attempts. Daimler even promoted the Denza X through the Mercedes - Benz sales channel. However, due to problems such as overstocked inventory and low profit margins, the Denza brand was resisted by Mercedes - Benz dealers, and the attempt ended up in vain.

Although it combined BYD's battery technology and Mercedes - Benz's chassis tuning, due to the situation at that time and the new electric strategies determined by Mercedes - Benz and BYD respectively, Denza finally became a "forgotten one".

It wasn't until 2021 that BYD began to "revive" Denza. First, in 2021, it invested to buy back the equity from Mercedes - Benz and completed full control of Denza - this was the year when Zhao Changjiang was transferred as mentioned above.

Zhao Changjiang's "restart" was not "from 0 to 1" but truly "from - 1 to 1", more like an internal startup of a new force.

The logo was renewed, and the concept was also renewed: "A new luxury automobile brand featuring intelligent safety". Under this concept, the first new car was launched - Denza D9:

In October 2022, the Denza D9 DM - i officially started delivery. In the second month, the sales volume soared nearly 10 times, and in the third month, it doubled again on that basis, reaching 6,002 units. It only took three months to break the long - standing record of the "old Denza".

Data shows that in 2023, the sales volume of Denza Auto exceeded 120,000 units, and it won the sales championship in the MPV category that year. As of June this year, the 250,000th new Denza D9 rolled off the production line, achieving a milestone for domestic new - energy MPVs.

Before the Denza D9, not only new - energy brands but also the entire MPV market had long been "dominated" by the Buick GL8, and there were few challengers.

So the Denza D9 was not only the sales champion in the MPV market but also a pioneer that brought many domestic MPVs such as the Voyah Dreamer, GAC Trumpchi M8, and Great Wall Wei Pai Gaoshan into consumers' view.

However, in the three years since the D9, Denza has not had a single blockbuster model.

The best monthly sales of the Denza N7, Z9, Z9GT, and the 6 - seat SUV N9 launched this year were only four or five thousand. The sales forecasts that Zhao Changjiang repeatedly gave at press conferences and when facing the media ultimately failed to come true.

One of the reasons why the Denza MPV became popular overnight but only had this one success was that the D9 itself led and filled a gap, while the subsequent models were follow - ups and replicas.

For example, the N9 followed the trend of the Li L9's large six - seat family SUV. The Z9GT followed the trend of the shooting - brake cars led by the Zeekr 001. The Z9 hoped to replicate BYD Han's superior performance over the Passat and Camry, using technological advantages to become a substitute for the Mercedes - Benz S - Class and BMW 7 Series. However, it ignored the key role of brand emotional value in this market segment...

Although Zhao Changjiang also caused some controversies and criticisms during his tenure, such as being mocked as "Zhao the Late" because of delayed deliveries and bursting into tears during a live - streaming Q&A with car owners.

But the outside world generally believes that BYD did help Zhao Changjiang achieve success, but the under - performance of Denza was not entirely his responsibility.

Next stop: Zhijie?

BYD's internal R & D is mainly carried out by the New Technology Research Institute and the Engineering Academy. In terms of Denza's product planning, definition, configuration, etc., Zhao Changjiang actually did not have full decision - making power. He was more of a figure who frequently appeared in public to support the products and technologies and tell the story of Denza.

To some extent, BYD's "black technology" has become a "burden" that restricts the exertion of product power.

For example, the N9, with the Yunlian A + e - Quad system, enables a large six - seat SUV with a wheelbase of 3 meters to have the handling flexibility of a Class A car, the power performance of a super - car, the smoothness and quietness of a Class D executive sedan, and a series of incredible maneuvering functions in narrow and difficult scenarios:

However, these configurations inevitably occupied and invaded the passenger - compartment space. In this class with a 3 - meter wheelbase, the interior space of the N9, especially the lateral and longitudinal space, did not have an advantage compared with a series of "9" models.

But without these black technologies, it would be difficult to create a differentiated advantage and highlight BYD's genes...

So even though Zhao Changjiang himself "hid" in dozens of Denza car - owner groups and often personally replied to various user feedbacks in the early morning, winning praise from users and becoming an auto executive with over a million fans on the whole network... he still couldn't find a way to break through Denza's own predicament.

Zhao Changjiang was very anxious, and the car owners were even more anxious:

The key is that Wang Chuanfu was also anxious and made a decisive statement about Denza's current predicament:

The Denza N9 emphasizes the moose test and the fish - hook test, which shows that it has good safety performance. However, the marketing team failed to convey these points and the emotional value, so many people don't know about them