Editor's Note: Wang Hao’s exit from BAIC should not be seen as a repudiation of his leadership strategies, nor should it be reduced to a simple narrative of performance-driven resignation.

On October 17, Wang Hao, former Chairman of Beijing Automotive Co., Ltd. (hereinafter referred to as "BAIC Motor"), announced his departure from BAIC Group on social media. He emphasized that his resignation was a deliberate decision made after thorough deliberation and expressed gratitude for his eight-year tenure at BAIC.

The significance of this farewell lies not only in Wang Hao’s role as a young leader within BAIC’s independent operations but also in its timing amid BAIC Motor’s ongoing transformational challenges. Over the past year, Beijing Off-Road has achieved tangible progress in user engagement and product diversification. However, BAIC Motor’s overall profitability remains under substantial strain.

Direct User Engagement: Pioneering a New Model

Wang Hao’s management approach at BAIC was distinguished by his efforts to bridge the gap between traditional automakers and consumers.

In March 2025, BAIC Motor appointed Wang Hao as Chairman. During his tenure, he spearheaded the establishment of a direct executive-user interaction mechanism at Beijing Off-Road, aiming to accelerate the flow of consumer insights into R&D, manufacturing, sales, and after-sales services. By focusing on scenario-driven development, collaborative product innovation, and integrated online-offline strategies, Beijing Off-Road also somewhat transformed its image from a purely professional off-road brand.

These initiatives elicited notable market responses in 2025.

Beijing Off-Road’s annual sales surpassed 200,000 units, with 147,000 "boxy" models delivered—a 72% year-on-year increase. Among these, individual buyers accounted for 83%, up 13 percentage points from the previous year, while sales of high-value products priced above RMB 150,000 also rose.

This shift indicates that Beijing Off-Road is no longer confined to serving niche off-road enthusiasts but is expanding into mainstream daily driving scenarios, including family travel and urban commuting.

However, these accomplishments primarily highlight the exploratory value of brand transformation rather than being solely attributable to targeted marketing efforts. Sales growth was driven by a combination of factors, including product lifecycle dynamics, pricing strategies, channel optimization, and market segmentation expansion. Analyst Wang Ying provided an objective assessment, noting that Wang Hao contributed to modernizing BAIC’s independent user engagement framework but was not the sole determinant of the listed company’s overall performance.

Partial Gains Fail to Alleviate Broader Pressures

While Beijing Off-Road’s growth represents a significant milestone in BAIC Motor’s transformation, it does not signal a reversal of the group’s overall operational challenges.

In 2025, BAIC Motor reported RMB 164.047 billion in revenue, a 14.8% year-on-year decline; net profit attributable to shareholders fell to approximately RMB 123 million, an 87.2% drop; and gross profit reached RMB 19.012 billion, down 38.4% year-on-year. The company attributed these declines to intensified price competition and reduced sales volumes.

In contrast, Beijing Off-Road’s delivery of 147,000 "boxy" models—a 72% year-on-year increase—and the 83% share of individual buyers reflect partial successes within the independent segment. The former underscores the listed company’s broader profitability challenges, while the latter highlights improvements in the user composition of the off-road product line. These data points are not contradictory but instead reveal the central dilemma of BAIC Motor’s transformation: while product sales have grown, this expansion has not fully offset the adverse effects of price competition, declining sales volumes, and operational inconsistencies across segments on overall profits.

BAIC Motor’s portfolio also includes joint ventures such as Beijing Benz, Beijing Hyundai, and Fujian Benz, with the group’s overall profitability influenced by the performance and investment returns of these partnerships. Consequently, neither can BAIC Motor’s profit decline be entirely blamed on Beijing Off-Road, nor can partial sales growth overshadow the complexity of profit recovery.

The critical question is whether Beijing Off-Road’s growth can translate into higher gross margins and more stable cash flow, as well as whether the independent segment can reduce its reliance on a single profit driver.

Wang Hao’s departure from BAIC should not be interpreted as a rejection of his strategic initiatives, nor should it be simplified as a performance-related exit.

Beijing Off-Road’s sales growth, improved user demographics, and brand revitalization demonstrate that its user-centric transformation has achieved initial success. However, the sharp decline in BAIC Motor’s net profit attributable to shareholders reveals persistent barriers between product-level growth and the listed company’s overall profitability, including pricing strategies, cost structures, channel efficiency, and cross-segment collaboration.

For BAIC Motor, the next phase hinges not on replicating a single high-performing product but on ensuring that growth across multiple product lines translates into sustainable profitability.