Wang Chuanfu hört auf Ratschläge: BYD hat die Leitung von Denza gewechselt.

BYD's "BBA", the most cutting - edge brand in intelligentization, Denza, has a new leader.

Zhao Changjiang, who once created a "sales myth" and was once the fastest - rising post - 80s within BYD, has left Denza Auto, which he had led for three years.

He successfully "restarted" the Denza brand, and the new - energy MPV became an instant hit and remained the long - term sales champion. However, for several subsequent models, the cutting - edge technologies failed to be transformed into product competitiveness, and they successively became the "foils" of competitors.

Car owners and netizens were anxious seeing this, and there were continuous criticisms and doubts online.

Wang Chuanfu also rarely expressed his anxiety about the Denza brand last month, and finally made the decision to change the leader.

Denza Changes Its Leader

At 0:00 this morning, Zhao Changjiang posted a farewell Weibo:

He reviewed the achievements since he took charge of Denza, such as successfully restarting Denza from the brand, channels to positioning, and the sales of Denza started to recover this year... and previewed the upcoming Denza N8L.

However, Zhao Changjiang's Weibo verification has not been changed yet:

Zhao Changjiang will swap positions at the same level within the company with Li Hui, the current general manager of the Direct Sales Division of Denza Fangchengbao.

From being the person in charge of a high - end brand within BYD, he has returned to his most familiar field of sales.

It is said that this year BYD imitated Huawei and launched a rotation system for middle - and high - level management personnel. However, there is no accurate information about the scope of the rotation and the duration of each rotation.

Therefore, the most common interpretation from the outside world about the position swap between Zhao Changjiang and Li Hui is to break the current sales deadlock of Denza.

BYD's brand sales channels are different, but at the new - car R & D level, especially in terms of issues such as which "cutting - edge technologies" are used for which models and which models are placed under which brands, it is still "centrally" allocated. Brand managers will of course participate in the decision - making, but they do not have 100% decision - making power. Their responsibilities are more like being the "front - line sales force" responsible for selling cars well.

Zhao Changjiang led Denza for three years. Although his title was "General Manager of the Sales Division", what he did most was to frequently appear in public to support the products and technologies and tell the story of Denza.

However, Zhao Changjiang, who was once the fastest - rising "hero of a popular novel" within BYD, did not get a happy - ending script at Denza.

Zhao Changjiang Leaves

Zhao Changjiang was born in 1986 in Liuyang, Hunan. He graduated from Central South University and is an alumnus of the boss Wang Chuanfu.

Right after graduation in 2009, Zhao Changjiang joined BYD and became a regional sales manager of BYD Auto.

In BYD's first official book The Soul of Engineers, when Zhao Changjiang first appeared, he was the regional sales champion of BYD's first high - end model, the Tang.

After years of hard work and with dispatch and practical experience in various regions across the country, and because of his youth, eagerness to learn, and daring to take action, Zhao Changjiang was appointed as the marketing director of the Beijing - Tianjin region of BYD Auto in 2015.

At that time, driven by favorable policies, the new - energy vehicle market at both the 2B and 2C ends in core big cities represented by Beijing was booming, and new - energy passenger cars began to enter people's daily lives on a large scale.

A group of new car - making forces, including NIO, Li Auto, and XPeng, also germinated around that time.

In this position, Zhao Changjiang accumulated the most important performance capital for his promotion - he led the BYD sales in this region to increase tenfold in just over a year.

Thanks to his good performance in the Beijing - Tianjin region, just two years later, at the age of 31, Zhao Changjiang had a "triple jump" in his job title. In 2017, he became the youngest general manager of the sales company in BYD Auto's history.

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

At the beginning of 2021, BYD announced externally 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 sales business, was entrusted with a new important task by Wang Chuanfu - to establish a high - end brand, which is now Yangwang.

However, BYD's internal strategy changed, and Zhao Changjiang was quickly transferred to Denza to shoulder 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.

The two parties each contributed 50% of the capital. Although it was said to be a cooperation between BYD and Daimler, it was more like Daimler's attempt to test the new - energy market in China. At that time, although the delivery volume of Denza was not large, consumers who bought the car were more willing to call it a "Mercedes - Benz product".

Indeed, in 2011, Daimler's name was obviously more well - known and more valuable than BYD's.

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. In 2014, the first - generation model, the Denza 300, was priced at 360,000 yuan, which made consumers who had little trust in pure - electric models shy away from it, and the market response was mediocre.

After that, the two parties also made several adjustments and attempts. From 2016 to 2018, Denza successively launched models such as the Denza 400 and the Denza 500. However, the slow model iteration, relatively high price, and lack of breakthrough innovation caused Denza to always hover outside the market.

From 2014 to 2018, Denza accumulated losses of over 3.5 billion yuan in five years. In fact, both BYD and Daimler had made attempts. Daimler even promoted the Denza X through Mercedes - Benz's sales channels. 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.

So, before 2022, although Denza 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, it finally became a "forgotten one".

It was not until 2021 that BYD began to "revive" Denza.

In December, BYD and Daimler each increased their capital in Denza New Energy by 1 billion yuan. At the same time, they signed an equity transfer agreement to adjust the structure of their joint - venture company. After the transfer, BYD and Daimler will hold 90% and 10% of the equity in Denza respectively (in 2024, BYD completed 100% control of Denza, and Mercedes - Benz withdrew).

This was the year when BYD split the sales division as mentioned above and Zhao Changjiang was transferred.

Zhao Changjiang's restart of Denza was actually a new - force startup within BYD, reconstructing every aspect of Denza, such as a new logo:

Then there was a new concept: "A new luxury car brand featuring intelligent safety", and under this concept, the first new car - the Denza D9 - was launched:

After its launch, it quickly became the sales champion in the MPV market. Data shows that in 2023, Denza Auto's sales exceeded 120,000 vehicles, 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, reaching 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.

Therefore, the Denza D9 is not only the sales champion of MPVs but also a pioneer that brought many domestic MPVs such as the Voyah Dreamer, GAC Trumpchi M8, and Great Wall Wei Brand Gaoshan into consumers' view.

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

The medium - sized SUV Denza N7, which was launched later, can be regarded as BYD's first intelligent car. It was the first to be equipped with a lidar, the first to be equipped with urban NOA, and also had BYD's dual - gun super - charging technology, a Qualcomm customized car - machine chip, a Devialet customized audio system, etc... However, it was quickly left in the cold after its launch.

After the N7 received 10,000 orders within 24 hours of its launch, the subsequent delivery volume was far from what was expected, with an average monthly delivery volume of only a few hundred vehicles. Even the two consecutive model upgrades and price cuts in 2024 and 2025 could not impress consumers.

Later, the Denza N8 disappeared soon after its release and was "removed" from the model introduction on Denza's official website.

In the second half of 2024, Denza tried to go