Taking Apart Deep Blue Cars: An Organizational Structure Adjustment That Wasn't Clearly Explained
After a large-scale organizational adjustment, there are fewer voices within Deep Blue Auto that can balance the power of the top leader. Among them, there are even fewer professional voices from the marketing system.
01. An Imbalanced System
Last weekend, multiple media outlets reported that Yang Dayong, an executive of Changan Automobile, would return to Deep Blue Auto. Yang Dayong is the executive vice president of Changan Automobile, ranking higher in the group than Deng Chenghao, the current CEO of Deep Blue Auto. Based on this, the outside world speculates that once Yang Dayong officially joins, the management of Deep Blue Auto will be reshuffled.
Yang Dayong is currently the executive deputy general manager of Changan Ford. Automobile Pixel learned from sources close to the leaders of Changan Ford and Deep Blue Auto that several director-level executives in Deep Blue Auto's marketing and brand systems have visited Changan Ford "to report work" several times a week for consecutive weeks. However, as of now, Yang Dayong does not hold an actual position at Deep Blue Auto.
A source close to Deep Blue Auto told us that another internal speculation is that Yang Dayong may first participate in the marketing and brand management of Deep Blue Auto, which is what Deep Blue Auto currently lacks the most - a balancing voice in the marketing system.
Deep Blue Auto has made many mistakes in marketing. The most recent one occurred two months ago. Deep Blue pushed an advertisement for the new car S09 to the in-vehicle systems of 480,000 old car owners, triggering a public opinion crisis. In the first half of this year alone, there were at least three public opinion crises at Deep Blue Auto caused by the decisions and remarks of senior management.
During the Shanghai Auto Show in April this year, Deng Chenghao admitted that there were problems in Deep Blue's marketing, attributing some of them to the company's genes. He said that 85% of the entire Deep Blue team are R & D personnel, and the brand and marketing systems were only systematically established in 2022. With shallow experience and a small number of personnel, Deep Blue "has good products but can't tell stories" and "has difficulty countering attacks effectively."
Among new car - making forces such as XPeng, Li Auto, and NIO, the proportion of R & D personnel is between 30% and 40%. Although the statistical calibers of these data are different, such a huge difference still shows the imbalance of Deep Blue Auto. After nearly 4 years since the brand was established and nearly 8 years of independent operation, the system construction completed by Deep Blue Auto is not balanced.
A source close to Changan's R & D team told us that the current number of R & D personnel at Deep Blue Auto is close to 2,000, including those in various departments such as the whole vehicle, power, and software. This is a large - scale personnel establishment. The Global R & D Center, the core R & D institution of the parent company Changan Automobile, has only about 3,000 employees. Another whole - vehicle company under Changan Automobile, Avita, which is on a parallel footing with Deep Blue, has less than a thousand R & D personnel.
Deng Chenghao, CEO of Deep Blue Auto
To manage this R & D - oriented car - making team, Deng Chenghao, the CEO of Deep Blue Auto, is naturally a well - known "technologist" among Changan's senior management. He has held various positions in Changan Automobile, such as the general technical director of new energy and the deputy general manager of the power development department. He led the development of the three major platform architectures of the EPA series, which are the foundation of Deep Blue Auto's product lineup.
Deep Blue also has many technological highlights, such as self - developed cases like the multi - in - one integrated electric drive and high - frequency pulse heating technology. The latter won Deep Blue the Gold Award for China's Intellectual Property Invention Patent, which is the second time in the past 20 years in the automotive industry.
At a press conference in March last year, Deng Chenghao gave a two - and - a - half - hour off - script speech in front of a more than 200 - page PPT, elaborating on Deep Blue's super extended - range technology in detail. Some voices believe that Deng Chenghao demonstrated profound technical skills and is a rare "geek" - style figure among car company leaders. However, there are also doubts, believing that Deep Blue's senior management lacks an understanding of communication rules and audience preferences.
The CEO's imbalance is not necessarily a bad thing, as it can lead the company to quickly establish core competitiveness, which is also the reason for Deep Blue's positioning as a "technology - oriented user enterprise." However, as a balance, most companies will make arrangements through systems and personnel to balance and make up for weaknesses.
The latter is exactly what Deep Blue Auto lacks.
02. Difficult Balance
After the failure of the MEGA, the senior management of Li Auto reflected and believed that the product decision - making layer lacked a voice that could counterbalance the top leader, which ultimately led to many decision - making mistakes for this car. The senior executives in the company who could counterbalance the founder Li Xiang had all gone to manage other businesses.
To solve the problem, in 2024, Li Auto made comprehensive adjustments from the organizational structure to the responsibilities of senior executives. The senior executives who could oppose Li Xiang were transferred back to the product line.
Deep Blue has also made attempts in terms of organizational structure, which are consistent with those made by its parent company Changan Automobile. It has established horizontal processes similar to those of Huawei and Li Auto between vertical organizations such as R & D departments, products, and marketing to break down departmental barriers.
In November last year, Deep Blue Auto had a relatively large - scale organizational structure adjustment. One of the cores was to divide the entire product line into three parts: product development, product GTM, and user development.
This structure is quite popular among automobile companies nowadays, aiming to make the company more flat, improve decision - making efficiency, and at the same time, make the product and technology teams closer to users and make technology R & D closer to actual needs rather than engineers' imaginations.
However, the problem was not solved once and for all.
Deep Blue S09 targeting the high - end market
At the Shanghai Auto Show in April this year, Han Tingting, Yang Yuanyuan, and Li Pan, senior executives of Deep Blue Auto, attended the post - exhibition media interviews with the titles of product CEO, CMO (Chief Marketing Officer), and CBO (Chief Brand Officer) respectively.
They are all long - term employees in the Changan system. Before appearing in their new positions, the three executives were in charge of Deep Blue Auto's market, marketing, and brand respectively. Inside Deep Blue, although they were given cross - departmental coordination capabilities similar to those of vice presidents (VPs) and reported directly to the top leader, most of them did not have the VP title and their corresponding ranks were directors.
In the old structure, the power of VP - level executives who could truly counterbalance the CEO inside Deep Blue Auto was narrowed to varying degrees in this round of adjustment. For example, Su Zhong, the vice president who led the development of Deep Blue's first car SL03 and several subsequent models, no longer has actual product decision - making power after the adjustment, and many corresponding powers were distributed to director - level product managers.
Automobile Pixel learned that in the fourth quarter of last year, Li Zonghua, the former vice president in charge of R & D, was transferred from Deep Blue Auto to take charge of the newly established Changan Software Technology Company of Changan. After Li Zonghua's transfer, many R & D departments were split up and merged.
Like the directors in the marketing field, a source close to Changan's R & D department told us that many decision - making powers in the product and R & D systems were delegated to directors, and they would tend to implement according to the top leader's opinions.
The new structure has improved decision - making efficiency, but there are fewer voices that can counterbalance the top leader, especially professional voices from the marketing and sales systems.
Even before the adjustment, Li Zonghua, Su Zhong, etc. at the VP level of Deep Blue all came from the R & D team. The core senior executives of Deep Blue Auto also include Su Linke in charge of software development and Zhou Xiaoming in charge of finance. There is only one VP - level executive, Wang Qiang, in the sales system.
A mid - level manager close to Deep Blue told Automobile Pixel that what Deep Blue needs now is a VP - level or higher executive who can play an actual role in the marketing and product systems.
03. The Parent Company is Moving Faster
In the first six months of 2025, Deep Blue Auto delivered a total of 197,000 new cars, a year - on - year increase of 79%, completing less than 40% of the annual target of 500,000 vehicles. In 2023 and 2024, Deep Blue Auto set sales targets of 200,000 and 450,000 vehicles respectively, and finally achieved 135,000 and 243,000 vehicles.
Now Deep Blue has six models, and none of them has a monthly sales volume of over 10,000. The model with the highest sales volume is the Deep Blue S05, priced between 119,900 and 149,900 yuan. However, this car is not in the core price range of the Deep Blue brand.
Changan Automobile's self - owned brands include three main whole - vehicle companies, corresponding to four core passenger - car brands. Among them, the Qiyuan and Yinli brands are directly managed by Changan Automobile, while Deep Blue and Avita are two independent automobile companies. In Changan's new - energy layout, Deep Blue is positioned higher than Qiyuan and lower than Avita. Not long ago, Deng Chenghao said that the Deep Blue brand is positioned in the price range of 150,000 to 300,000 yuan.
Facing the most core price segment of new - energy vehicles, Deep Blue needs to improve organizational efficiency more quickly.
Other brands within Changan Automobile have been exploring new paths. Automobile Pixel exclusively reported that Changan Automobile added two product CEOs this year, who are in charge of the Yinli and Qiyuan brands respectively.
Compared with the director - level product CEOs at Deep Blue, Di Zhirui, the product CEO of Qiyuan, and Yuan Zhixiong, the product CEO of Yinli, have higher ranks, corresponding to general manager and deputy general manager respectively. A higher position means stronger ability to mobilize resources and more opportunities to play an actual role in the product line.
Di Zhirui and Yuan Zhixiong both come from the marketing system. A source close to Changan Automobile told Automobile Pixel that Changan Automobile intends to cultivate a group of executives with the thinking of "big product managers" to narrow the gap between marketing and R & D.
Yang Dayong is an experienced marketing veteran cultivated within Changan Automobile. He has held various positions such as the deputy head of the marketing department and the head of the brand public relations department of Changan Automobile. He was also the former top leader of Deep Blue Auto before Deng Chenghao and once served as the general manager and chairman of Changan New Energy, the predecessor of Deep Blue Company.
At Changan Ford, another of his responsibilities was to build Changan Ford's new - energy vehicle system. He is one of the few senior executives in Changan who has both marketing experience and product - handling ability.
Yang Dayong, Executive Vice President of Changan
In addition to the redistribution of product and marketing functions, Changan's R & D system is also changing. To facilitate business - end collaboration, the architectures of the Global R & D Center and Changan Technology have been adjusted. Many business departments have been re - split and integrated. In Changan's complex R & D system, many common resources are being integrated. At the organizational structure level, only Deep Blue's R & D system has not been incorporated into the R & D system of its parent company, Changan.
Among Changan's four brands, only the Deep Blue brand has a complete R & D team. The R & D of Qiyuan and Yinli is entirely the responsibility of Changan's Global R & D Center (hereinafter referred to as the Global R & D Center). Some common development tasks of Avita, such as whole - vehicle development and intelligent driving, are jointly completed by Changan's Global R & D Center and Huawei.
Deep Blue Auto established its own R & D team for historical reasons. In 2017, Changan Automobile split the R & D teams related to new energy from various departments in the R & D system and re - integrated them into a business unit, which was incorporated into the new company Changan New Energy the following year.
At that time, the automotive market was still dominated by fuel - powered vehicles, and Changan Automobile's sales relied on fuel - powered vehicle brands such as Yinli. If the new - energy R & D was placed under the fuel - powered vehicle R & D system, it would be difficult to accurately invest resources and adjust organizational inertia.
Now the environment has changed. New energy is the core of all R & D departments in Changan. Except for Deep Blue, many scattered R & D resources in Changan have been integrated. Automobile Pixel exclusively reported that in June this year, Changan integrated its two companies, "Changan Software" and "Changan Technology". Earlier, the self - developed intelligent driving R & D was concentrated in Long - term Technology.
A source close to Changan's R & D system told Automobile Pixel that the cooperation frequency between Changan's R & D team and Deep Blue's R & D team is also increasing. For example, the first few new cars of the Qiyuan brand were modified by the Global R & D Center based on Deep Blue's products. Several future new cars planned by Deep Blue are being developed based on Changan's SDA architecture, which is led by Changan Technology, so it will also undertake the actual development of many Deep Blue models.
Merging is a common practice among many car companies. For example, GAC merged its independent Aion Research Institute into the GAC Research Institute system, and Geely merged the R & D team of Zeekr into the Geely Research Institute.
It is a trend for large automobile groups to centralize R & D. Different brands no longer split R & D resources but uniformly draw from a resource pool. In the general direction of such organizational structure adjustment in the industry, it may be time for Deep Blue Auto to make up for the shortcomings of its company function system built around the R & D team.
This article is from the WeChat public account "Automobile Pixel". Author: Cao Lin, Editor: Mao Shiyang. Republished by 36Kr with permission.