Xpeng alumnus returns to give Volkswagen Anhui (大众安徽) a "new lease on life"

Leadership reboot at Volkswagen Anhui

Volkswagen Anhui (大众安徽) has installed Li Pengcheng (李鹏程) as chief marketing officer and brought in Liu Zhanshu (刘展术) three months earlier as chief operating officer, in what it has been reported is a direct response to an alarming profit slide at Volkswagen Group (大众汽车集团). Li’s resume — 17 years inside FAW‑Volkswagen then a turn at Xpeng (小鹏) and later Avita (阿维塔) — marks him out as a rare operator who has bridged legacy OEM playbooks and EV new‑player marketing. Liu’s background spans Audi, GM North America and several Chinese EV challengers; together they are being cast not just as managers but as “translators” to convert Wolfsburg engineering into messages and channels Chinese consumers understand.

Product push, China autonomy and the Xpeng tie‑up

The appointments come as Volkswagen reports a global operating profit slump — it has been reported that operating profit fell about 53.5% year‑on‑year — while China remains the group’s last ballast. Yet that ballast is loosening: China volumes slipped and pure‑EV uptake from Volkswagen Anhui has underperformed. In response, Volkswagen is accelerating local product decision‑making and leaning into a deep technical tie with Xpeng. It has been reported that the CEA electrical architecture — jointly developed with Xpeng — moved from concept to production in 18 months, and that Volkswagen Anhui will bring four new models to market in 2026, including the Xpeng‑collaborative B‑segment SUV “与众08” and a lineup of upgraded “与众” sedans.

A test of faster local decision‑making — can it work?

This is more than a personnel shuffle. It is an experiment in shortening the long approval chains that have hamstrung many legacy joint ventures in China: quicker local R&D, faster pricing and deeper channel expansion. Volkswagen Anhui’s legacy is painful — reportedly more than CNY 10 billion in cumulative losses across recent years — and problems range from year‑long product delays to brand confusion and too few retail outlets. Can two executives reverse that and make China’s fastest‑moving EV market a growth engine again? Analysts say the shift toward partner‑style collaboration reflects broader geopolitical and trade‑policy pressures — from US tariffs to currency swings — that force foreign automakers to cede authority if they want to stay competitive in China.