By Michael Elkins
Chinese media site, Jiemian News reported today on electric vehicle company Xpeng's (NYSE:XPEV) internal reorganization. Citing an insider, reporter Zhou Shuqi writes (Translated to English) that the adjustment is “basically coming to an end”. The report notes that the adjustment involved some layoffs, but the proportion is not high, which is a “normal personnel adjustment”.
Last month the electric automaker began an in-depth organizational structure adjustment and set up five virtual committees to establish connections among different business lines within the company.
A staff member at XPeng said that the synergy between different development lines is more obvious and the decision-making efficiency is improved, but it will take time to verify the final effect. “Colleagues in different business segments have increased significantly. Everyone knows which case other departments are also following up, and we will have a more thorough understanding of the business. Decisions that do not conform to the actual situation can be avoided,” said the employee.
It is speculated that the organizational restructuring of XPeng is closely related to the unfavorable release of the G9. However, following the poor market response to the G9, CEO and Co-founder He Xiaopeng held several management meetings to reflect on the company’s operations and product strategy and said that the organizational restructuring was not due to the unsatisfactory release of the G9.
He explained, “We actually adjust our structure every year, and this adjustment has been under discussion since the beginning of this year. This year, consulting companies were invited to conduct research. They suggested that this adjustment should be made at the end of the year, but we decided to do it two months ahead of schedule according to changes in the market.”
Regarding sales, He Xiaopeng remains optimistic and believes that after two months of ramping up production capacity, it is expected to turn around in January next year. In addition, it was revealed that the popular Xpeng P7 model will be remodeled in the first or second quarter of next year. He Xiaopeng hopes that the remodeled P7 will support the sales of Xpeng Motors together with the G9.
Shares of XPEV are up 5.47% in mid-day trading on Thursday.