Introduction

Lv Haitao leads a seasoned team in a bid to revive Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen, marking two leadership overhauls within a year.

Recently, Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen, which had been languishing in obscurity, made headlines with a high-profile leadership conference. Lv Haitao was appointed as the general manager, with key executives like Cheng Jun and Shi Jianxing forming a new leadership cohort. This move received personal endorsement from Yang Qing, the chairman of Dongfeng Motor Group. This represents the second major management shakeup in just a year, signaling a swift and decisive approach.

It's crucial to understand that Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen's situation has been challenging. From January to October 2025, sales reached a mere 42,400 units, marking a 24.9% year-on-year decline and continuing a downward trend that has persisted for nearly a decade.

In its heyday in 2015, the company sold 700,000 units annually. Now, it's struggling to keep pace with the electrification wave: product updates take 3-4 years, lagging far behind the rapid 18-24-month cycle of the Chinese market. Caught between the technological prowess of German and Japanese brands and the cost-efficiency of domestic players, even its once-renowned chassis tuning is being overshadowed by delays in smart cockpit and three-electric technologies.

Veteran Team 'Battles' Together

The standout feature of this new leadership team is their deep-rooted connection to Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen, with each member's expertise precisely addressing the company's pain points. Leading the charge is Lv Haitao, who joined the company at its inception in 1992. Rising from procurement to vice chairman, he witnessed the glory days of selling 700,000 units annually and serves as a vital link between Chinese and foreign shareholders. Now, also serving as the deputy head of the Group's Strategic Planning Department, he can align Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen's strategy with Dongfeng's overarching vision while facilitating communication with Stellantis Group, offering a potential breakthrough for long-standing joint venture challenges.

Cheng Jun is a technical stalwart with over 20 years at Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen, deeply involved in multiple product plans. After visiting eπ Tech in June to gain insights into electrification and intelligence, he swiftly returned, addressing the company's sluggish technological transformation.

Shi Jianxing, a post-80s executive, is the team's marketing maverick. Starting his career at Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen, he later led the transformation of the Dongfeng Fengshen brand to prominence. With extensive experience in youth-oriented operations and market expansion, his return aims to inject fresh energy into Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen's brand renewal and channel activation.

This blend of seasoned Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen members with fresh perspectives understands both internal operations and market dynamics, forming a complementary team and laying the groundwork for the company's revival.

Unlike the previous sluggish pace, the new leadership team hit the ground running. On the second day, Lv Haitao led a delegation to meet with the Wuhan Economic and Technological Development Zone, securing not only new energy vehicle industry subsidies but also explicitly proposing to build a modular production platform at the Wuhan base, setting the stage for subsequent multi-model co-production. Immediately after, he rushed to Chengdu, where he declared during discussions with local governments and dealers that marketing should shift from a defensive to an offensive stance, setting a goal to double new energy sales in the first quarter of next year.

In terms of industrial cooperation, efforts are being made on two fronts. On one hand, partnerships have been forged with T3 Travel and Dongfeng Changxing, signing a letter of intent for the purchase of 10,000 new energy vehicles, aiming to tap into the B-end market with the vast user base of travel platforms. On the other hand, a deep binding agreement has been signed with eπ Tech to compress the smart cockpit development cycle to 12 months, ensuring new vehicles can swiftly be equipped with the latest interactive systems and accelerating product iteration.

Internal morale was also quickly boosted. At the 'working hard for 60 days' oath-taking conference held in early November, Dongfeng Motor Group clearly stated its commitment to provide support in terms of funds and technical talent. Lv Haitao further demanded that each department publicly report progress weekly and deliver results monthly, using rigid goals to drive execution and allowing the market to clearly see Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen's determination to recover. This series of coordinated internal and external actions is marked by sincerity and speed.

New Strategies, New Challenges

Enthusiasm alone is insufficient. Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen has also outlined its core strategy for revival, focusing on both solidifying its existing user base and exploring new avenues in new energy and globalization.

In terms of service, a genuine approach has been adopted. On the fifth anniversary of the 'Five-Heart Protection Initiative,' not only was a lifetime warranty for engines introduced, but the vehicle age limit was also swiftly removed. Previously, only vehicles within three years were eligible, but now all 6.3 million old users, regardless of vehicle age, can enjoy free upgrades. Additionally, rewards for old owner referrals have been introduced, with successful referrals earning 2,000 yuan in maintenance vouchers. This service upgrade, from convenience to emotional connection, aims to create a differentiated advantage through user loyalty.

Globalization has also received a boost. The new CEO of Stellantis Group has made a significant strategic shift towards China, emphasizing regional empowerment. After three visits to China, he explicitly supports Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen's 'In China, For Global' strategy, aiming to export new energy vehicles produced in Wuhan worldwide. The new energy brand Shijie, launched in March this year, serves as a test case for this approach. Unfortunately, its first model, Shijie 06, has only sold 474 units in the first half of its launch, facing challenges of insufficient brand recognition.

A deeper transformation lies in the reconstruction of the joint venture model. The French side focuses on styling design and chassis tuning, preserving the driving soul of French vehicles. The Chinese side leads in core technologies such as three-electric systems and smart cockpits, injecting technological dividends from the Chinese market. This division of labor directly compresses the product development cycle to 18 months, catching up with the pace of new entrants. The first collaborative model is set to launch in the first quarter of 2027, finally keeping pace with industry trends.

However, Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen's road to revival remains fraught with obstacles. The poor sales of Shijie 06 have exposed shortcomings in brand communication and user engagement. Even with accelerated product iterations, breaking through without precisely reaching young users remains a challenge. Restoring the dealer network is also urgent. Data shows that from 2023 to 2024, Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen experienced an 18% dealer attrition rate, with some third- and fourth-tier cities facing a 'one-city-one-store' gap. Although Shi Jianxing's team has initiated a channel replenishment plan, the goal of adding 50 new energy experience stores requires time to implement. More critically, balancing strategic priorities and interest distribution between Chinese and foreign parties may still lead to disagreements on details such as technology licensing and cost sharing, despite Lv Haitao's coordination.

Moreover, industry competition will only intensify. In the electrification sector, domestic brands continue to lower prices to seize market share. In the globalization arena, joint venture brands like Volkswagen and Toyota are also accelerating their布局 (layout) in emerging markets. Can Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen's experiment of teaming veteran members and reconstructing the model break the curse of difficult transformation for joint venture brands?

The key lies in three points: whether the new models launched in 2026 can match mainstream competitors in terms of range and intelligent configurations; whether global exports from the Wuhan base can exceed 50,000 units before 2027; and whether Shi Jianxing's marketing strategies can increase brand recognition by 30%.

For this joint venture automaker with 33 years of history, this leadership change marks a new starting point. However, revival is never achieved overnight.

With veterans at the helm, clear strategies, and shareholder support, Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen's counterattack has begun. Whether it can turn the tide and bring French vehicles back to the center of the market remains to be seen, as time and the market will be the ultimate judges.