Xiaomi Auto's Major Appointments: HU Zhengnan Appointed as CTO, SONG Gang Appointed as Chief of Staff | Exclusive from 36Kr

36 Kr learned from multiple independent sources that on April 17th, Xiaomi Group announced through an internal email that Hu Zhengnan has been appointed as the vice president of Xiaomi Group and the CTO of the automotive department; Song Gang has been appointed as the vice president and chief of staff of Xiaomi's automotive department. This is the first time that Xiaomi Auto has established a CTO position since its establishment was announced in 2021.

According to 36 Kr, both newly appointed executives have over two decades of experience in the automotive industry, with resumes spanning traditional automakers and the new energy vehicle sector.

As of now, Xiaomi Auto has nearly 10,000 R & D personnel. With the addition of a large number of automotive industry experts with various expertise, Xiaomi Auto is accelerating the formation of a full - chain talent system covering R & D, design, manufacturing, safety, and supply chain.

Top talents also aspire to a bigger stage

Hu Zhengnan's joining Xiaomi is a two - way choice after long - term observation and verification.

Hu Zhengnan entered the automotive industry in 1997 and has nearly three decades of industry experience. He is one of the most representative vehicle engineering experts in the generation of China's independent rise in the automotive industry.

His resume is almost a condensed history of the evolution of Chinese independent automotive brands: In 1997, he entered the Shanghai Automotive Industry Technical Center as an engineer. In 2000, he co - founded Shanghai Longchuang Automotive Design Company and participated in leading the development of BYD F3 - this car was the sales champion of Chinese A - class sedans for many consecutive years and was the foundation for BYD's entry into vehicle manufacturing from a battery enterprise;

He participated in the engineering R & D of Great Wall Haval H6 - this car pioneered the Chinese compact SUV market, won the domestic SUV sales championship for more than 100 months in total, and is known as the "national god - car" in the industry; He also led the Geely Boyue project - this car established Geely's mainstream position in the SUV market.

It is extremely rare in the entire industry for the name of the same engineer to appear simultaneously with three key breakthroughs in the Chinese automotive industry.

After leaving the front - line vehicle position in 2021 and joining Shunwei Capital, Hu Zhengnan further expanded his judgment on the global automotive technology evolution path from the perspective of industrial investment.

Public information shows that as early as 2021, Hu Zhengnan joined Shunwei Capital as an investment partner and participated in the early work as an advisor to Xiaomi Auto. He has made public appearances at the SU7 launch event, the 2024 Beijing Auto Show, and the scene of the SU7 Ultra's challenge at the Nürburgring.

Lei Jun didn't rush to invite a senior vehicle expert who has led the development of several national - level models into the core management team.

This appointment marks that after nearly five years of system integration, Hu Zhengnan, who is deeply trusted by the team, has officially become a core executive of Xiaomi Group and the most core technical helmsman of Xiaomi Auto.

Song Gang's resume also spans two eras of the Chinese automotive industry.

Even before joining Tesla, he had accumulated rich experience in manufacturing and supply chain management in the global top - tier automaker systems. Since 1999, he has worked at SAIC - GM and Ford for a long time and is a local professional manufacturing management talent cultivated during the golden age of Chinese joint - venture automakers.

In 2018, Song Gang joined the Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory. The factory started construction in January 2019 and achieved mass production and delivery of the Model 3 in the same year, creating the "Tesla speed" that has been repeatedly studied by the global automotive industry.

Song Gang has served as the senior director of manufacturing, the vice president of manufacturing, and the factory director of the Shanghai factory. He also went to the United States to participate in factory construction and business planning and then led the establishment of the Tesla Shanghai Energy Storage Gigafactory. In 2024, he joined Envision Energy as the senior vice president of the integrated supply chain, extending his manufacturing system experience to a broader new energy industry landscape.

For top talents like Hu Zhengnan and Song Gang, choosing Xiaomi means choosing a broader stage.

From China to overseas, talent is a must - win for Xiaomi

It is understood that the current team size of Xiaomi Auto has exceeded 10,000, among which nearly 10,000 are R & D personnel.

Besides Hu Zhengnan and Song Gang, among the Xiaomi Auto executive team and core business departments, there are both long - term Xiaomi employees and many senior experts in the automotive industry.

The former includes Ye Hangjun, the general manager of the autonomous driving department, who joined Xiaomi in 2012 and has successively served as the general manager of the artificial intelligence department and the chairman of the technology committee.

The latter are distributed in multiple key departments of Xiaomi Auto, including Chen Guang, the person - in - charge of end - to - end intelligent driving technology; Chen Long, the person - in - charge of the cognitive large - model team; Wang Naiyan, the person - in - charge of the L3 project; and Li Tianyuan, the current general manager and chief designer of Xiaomi Auto's industrial design.

Xiaomi Auto's talent layout has also extended globally.

Since 2025, Xiaomi has officially established an automotive R & D center in Munich, Germany, and Xiaomi has confirmed the existence of this R & D center. According to a previous report by 36 Kr, Rudolf Dittrich, the person - in - charge of the center, worked at BMW for 15 years, served as the head of BMW's limited - edition vehicle department, and has engineering management experience in two F1 teams, Williams and Sauber.

Among the team members, Jannis Hellwig was the former performance management and simulation supervisor of BMW's Formula E (FE); Ricard Aiguabella Macau was the former aerodynamics expert for new Ferrari F1 cars; Dusan Sarac has R & D backgrounds at BMW and Rolls - Royce. According to public information, Jean, the interior designer of the world's first Mercedes - Benz Vision GT (VGT), recently became the person - in - charge of Xiaomi Auto's Munich Design Center (Studio).

This density of talent is rare in the global new energy vehicle industry. From a broader industrial perspective, Xiaomi Auto's organizational upgrade this time also points to the next proposition that the Chinese automotive industry is facing.

In the past two decades, the Chinese automotive industry has completed two leaps, from contract manufacturing to independent development and from fuel vehicles to electric vehicles. The next leap is the proposition of whether, on the basis of a mature domestic market, truly world - class intelligent electric vehicle enterprises can emerge.

The answer to this proposition depends on whether Chinese automakers can, in addition to product capabilities, complete the "industrial - level professional system" that matches global competition - from the technical foundation to the manufacturing system, from organizational capabilities to talent density.

For users, this round of organizational and system upgrades will ultimately translate into three direct experiences: the cars will be better, the delivery will be more stable, and the long - term guarantee will be more reliable. For the industry, Xiaomi Auto's real second stage has just begun.