Kong Yanshuang, a former senior executive at Tesla China, has joined Xiaomi, and the automotive retail sector is set to undergo systematic integration.

Photo taken by Li Jiaqi, a reporter from Jiemian News, at a Xiaomi offline store

On April 1st, Jiemian News exclusively learned that Kong Yanshuang, the former general manager of Tesla China, has joined Xiaomi and will replace Li Xiaorui, the former director of Xiaomi's automotive division, to be in charge of automobile sales. Kong Yanshuang joined in early March and is in the process of work handover. As of now, Xiaomi has not officially issued a notice about her official position.

Jiemian News has verified the above information with Xiaomi. As of press time, Xiaomi has not responded.

Public information shows that Kong Yanshuang is a core executive of Tesla China. She has served as the general manager of Tesla's South China region and the general manager of Tesla China. She has long been leading the layout of Tesla's sales system and brand promotion in the Chinese market.

During her tenure as the general manager of Tesla's South China region, she was responsible for the layout of service outlets in core cities such as Guangzhou and Shenzhen, as well as in third - and fourth - tier cities. From 2022 to 2023, as the general manager of Tesla China, she was interviewed by the media to introduce Tesla China's performance and strategy, including the milestones of the Shanghai Gigafactory and the model introduction plan.

In May 2024, with the adjustment of Tesla's management, Kong Yanshuang was transferred to the Shanghai region to replace the former sales leader and continued to participate in the management and expansion of Tesla's sales system in China.

Notably, another employee with a Tesla background joined Xiaomi at the same time as Kong Yanshuang. His name is "Eason", and he serves as the "political commissar" of Xiaomi's automotive department and is also a member of Xiaomi's general staff.

Xiaomi Group's general staff is a core department that assists the CEO in formulating and supervising the group's development strategy. A person close to Xiaomi told Jiemian News that it is extremely rare for new employees to directly join the general staff, which reflects the "value" of the employee and Xiaomi's determination to improve its current automobile retail capabilities.

Another employee of Xiaomi's automotive department told Jiemian News that Xiaomi's automobile retail system was initially planned with reference to Tesla's model. At present, a considerable proportion of provincial company managers and regional managers in Xiaomi have a Tesla background. The joining of several Tesla - affiliated executives will surely further integrate Xiaomi's automobile retail system and play a better role in the growth of the overall retail capabilities.

A leading Xiaomi dealer also shared a similar view. He told Jiemian News that in the past two years, Xiaomi only focused on product and brand building and ignored the personal value of front - line salespeople. As a result, even salespeople recruited from new - energy vehicle startups with high salaries didn't stay long. Since November last year, after the arrival of Tesla employees, there has been a focus on "competing in processes, data, and the management of people, goods, and locations", and the front - line sales capabilities have been significantly improved.

In his view, the orders for Xiaomi cars are no longer growing in an explosive manner. Therefore, it is necessary to strengthen the capabilities of the automobile sales team to cope with the upcoming stable sales period. Tesla's way of cultivating talents is systematic, which is very suitable for Xiaomi's current rhythm.

Previously, Xiaomi launched the new - generation Xiaomi SU7. Official data shows that within just 34 minutes after the launch of the new - generation SU7, the number of locked orders exceeded 15,000, and as of March 23rd, the cumulative number of locked orders exceeded 30,000.

Lu Weibing, the president of Xiaomi Group, said at the earnings conference that Xiaomi aims to deliver over 410,000 cars in 2025. As of February 13th, 2026, Xiaomi has cumulatively delivered over 600,000 cars, and its annual delivery target for 2026 is 550,000 cars.

This article is from Jiemian News. Author: Li Jiaqi. Republished by 36Kr with permission.