After witnessing the V9X launch event, many recall just one striking moment: Wei Jianjun, standing on stage, openly criticizing Zhao Yongpo and the Li Ruifeng team. This scene led public opinion to simplify the narrative to one where a dissatisfied boss publicly rebuked his executives.

However, a deeper understanding of Wei Jianjun and his lifelong dedication and tenacity towards car manufacturing reveals a different truth: a boss worth billions wouldn't lash out without reason. His anger stems not from personnel management but from introspection!

We once believed that the quality of a car company was judged by the superiority of its vehicles. Today, car companies seem to be competing more in spectacle! The focus has shifted from chassis, architecture, and fundamental technologies to the grandeur of the launch event—whether the sound, light, and dance effects are impressive enough, whether the screen is large enough, whether the specifications are compelling enough, and whether the features are novel enough... Despite many features being low-frequency, gimmicky, or flashy without substance, companies still invest heavily to create visual impact and sensory stimulation.

As a result, consumers are gradually misled by this approach. They become accustomed to comparing cars based on specifications, judging quality by superficial configurations, and assessing a car's value by the liveliness of the event. The fundamental criteria for evaluating a car are being slowly eroded and discarded. The phenomenon of 'bad money driving out good' harms companies that seriously research fundamental technologies and adhere to original car manufacturing, burying truly user-responsible good products beneath flashiness...

As the Chinese saying goes, 'lamenting their misfortune,' Wei Jianjun, with decades of experience in the automotive industry, knows that continuing this path will ultimately harm the market and users! This is what pains Wei Jianjun the most: he may not worry about the sales of the V9X, but he fears that if consumers are blinded by form, the market will inevitably lose a fair evaluation system.

As a boss, Wei Jianjun understands better than anyone that Zhao Yongpo and the Li Ruifeng team have done their utmost. Especially in adapting to this era and market, they have strived to keep pace, neither giving up nor being perfunctory.

Thus, when this 'well-intentioned misalignment' meets someone who values car manufacturing above all else, a 'temper' that should never have been witnessed by outsiders erupts!

Editor | Li Jiaqi

Image Source | Internet

1

Why Can't the Chinese Automotive Industry Do Without 'Those Who Lament the World'?

Many people's first impression of reading 'Li Sao' is that Qu Yuan is not tactful, too persistent, and doesn't fit in... because he takes all the blame upon himself, as written in the poem: 'People are keen on opportunism, abandoning rules and arbitrarily changing. I cannot learn this, so I am helpless.'

On the surface, Qu Yuan is lamenting his lack of tact and inability to keep up with the times, constantly hitting a dead end. But upon closer inspection, Qu Yuan is condemning an era where, in the court and beyond, right and wrong are reversed, opportunism is rampant, and moral bottom lines are not upheld, leaving good people with no way out.

The 'fire' Wei Jianjun lit at the WEY V9X launch event is, in a way, akin to Qu Yuan's helplessness.

Publicly criticizing his own team and exposing his own 'family scandals'—if you only listen to his scathing remarks about Li Ruifeng, Zhao Yongpo, and the WEY marketing team at the event, outsiders can only perceive Wei Jianjun as merciless, blaming both others and himself. But those who know Wei Jianjun and Great Wall Motors understand that Wei Jianjun is not only critiquing the interior of Great Wall Motors but also publicly reflecting on himself. Behind his self-blame and pain lies a deeper lament for the world!

Why does he lament the world? Because the rise of a flashy car manufacturing trend is causing automotive industry launch events to lose their original essence.

Look at today's automotive industry launch events—which one is not about competing on lighting, big screens, stages, and celebrity appearances... From promotional materials to live-stream clips, everyone can see that a new car launch event resembles both a concert and a tech show, with the car becoming a mere sideshow. At all new energy vehicle launch events, product experts talk about technology, focusing on '0-100 km/h acceleration, screen size, computing power, number of cameras, refrigerators, TVs, and sofas,' while never mentioning chassis tuning, body rigidity, passive safety, NVH, long-term reliability, maintenance costs, battery degradation, or driving feel—the 'fundamentals' of a car...

As a result, the market has been trained by marketing to prioritize '0-100 km/h acceleration, range, screen size, and feature lists' when buying a car. Consumers don't know how to evaluate the chassis, judge mechanical quality, or understand safety redundancy. Everyone only recognizes flashiness, not stability, and cars that are seriously engineered, safety-focused, and quality-oriented are labeled as conservative, outdated, and lacking in tech sense...

Ultimately, flashy car manufacturing that excels in showmanship, hype, and gimmicks sells cleverly and well; while cars that are solidly engineered, safety-focused, and quality-oriented are often overlooked and misunderstood.

It seems anyone can be flashy, anyone can put on a show, and anyone can prioritize talk over action!

But Wei Jianjun does not want WEY to take this path. With over 30 years of car manufacturing experience, Great Wall Motors has consistently adhered to competing on technology and product quality. Wei Jianjun believes that a car's quality should be reflected in its chassis, architecture, safety, and long-term use... This is why he demands that everyone at Great Wall Motors must not go along with these corrupt trends.

The reason for choosing Baoding for this launch event and speaking these words at Great Wall Motors' doorstep is that Wei Jianjun cannot help but shout, wake some people up, and restore some standards. Look at Wei Jianjun's emotions—not arrogant anger but long-suppressed frustration!

Why is he frustrated? Because Great Wall Motors has just created something good, but many have already muddied the waters.

It's not about the stage, screens, or rhetoric—the reality is that those who seriously manufacture cars are always overshadowed by those who excel at showmanship. This makes Wei Jianjun, who has dedicated his life to cars and loves them deeply, unwilling to bow down. That's why he refuses to accept this!

Recalling what Wei Jianjun said on stage at the launch event: 'The entire industry's credibility is thinner than a bill of exchange. Many car companies use flashy technologies to deceive consumers and investors.' Seemingly directed at his team, his words were actually meant for the entire industry and all users. He laid bare his pain, confusion, and reluctance.

So, you will find that the 'fire' Wei Jianjun lit at the V9X launch event was never directed at a specific person but at the impetuous car manufacturing mindset that forced him to lash out. It was against the distorted atmosphere that buries good products and the reality that the entire industry is increasingly straying from the original intention of car manufacturing.

2

Good Cars Are Hard to Build, Even Harder to Match!

During the premiere livestream of the WEY V9X, Great Wall Motors revealed that Wei Jianjun had rejected the car three times during its development. The initial design featured hidden door handles, but Wei Jianjun, citing concerns about their weight, potential freezing in winter, and failure during power outages, insisted on switching to mechanical door handles. The second rejection came after Wei Jianjun test-drove the car and felt it 'didn't feel like a flagship—more like a big car, but not a good one.' The team immediately revamped the suspension geometry, air spring stiffness, EDC damping valves, and even overhauled the rear-wheel steering logic, speed, and response. The third rejection occurred during testing when the engineering vehicle felt slightly loose over rough roads, lacking 'premium quietness.' Great Wall's engineering team then reconfigured the welds, reinforcements, and soundproofing materials...

Many don't understand why Great Wall Motors would go to such lengths for this car.

Everyone knows the V9X is the debut of the 'Guiyuan S Platform,' a pivotal work for the platform. But few know that the Guiyuan S Platform represents Great Wall Motors' determination to define the next generation of global luxury vehicles using Chinese technology, standards, and quality. It symbolizes the starting point and resolve of Chinese automakers to compete for global definition rights. It reflects Great Wall Motors' return to first principles, completely shedding all flashiness to retain only the hardest fundamentals. It embodies a 'counter-market' spirit of using fundamental physical value to oppose short-term symbolic value in a 'value-distorted market.'

Let's think carefully: who does the current market mechanism reward?

It rewards short-term perceptible, easily communicable, and quickly convertible values. Conversely, products that don't prioritize visible perception, emotional labeling, or short-term hits are neglected. This isn't about luck but a flawed market mechanism that buries value at the end of the decision-making chain. In today's climate of 'showmanship and parameter comparisons,' no one looks at fundamentals or understands engineering value!

So, marketing the V9X required following market demands and completing the necessary processes step by step, taking a 'complete before perfect' approach.

But for Wei Jianjun, Great Wall Motors has been building good cars for a lifetime. His biggest fear and frustration is being unable to articulate the product's merits: the world today takes too long to recognize quality, leaving too little time for a good car to be validated by the market!

When a car launches, everyone only cares if it's popular in the first three months, if its specs are explosive, or if it offers many incentives. Chassis quality, NVH, durability, 10-year reliability, and long-term dependability—these true long-term values cannot be judged in three months. An automaker spending 3-5 years building 'a friend of time' is met with a market that only craves instant gratification.

NIO's founder, Li Bin, has expressed a similar view, directly stating that the market's acceptance cycle for a long-termist good car is too short! Wei Jianjun may not say it outright, but his insistence on the entire Guiyuan Platform reflects this stance. He does so precisely because he sees through the 'market's reward for bubbles.'

But times and stages differ, so Wei Jianjun can only see through it without breaking it.

So, the Guiyuan Platform represents a spirit—a spirit of returning to fundamentals when the market is flashy, of focusing on the long term when short-sightedness prevails, and of building each V9X and subsequent car solidly amidst superficiality. It embodies the anti-market spirit that Great Wall Motors and Wei Jianjun have always believed in: silence, defiance, no explanation, and relentless persistence.

This is why Great Wall Motors invested 2 billion in R&D for this car, with the engineering team relentlessly focusing on chassis, safety, and mechanical quality... Because starting with the V9X, Great Wall Motors has proven capable of building truly good cars in every dimension!

But good cars are hard to build and even harder to match, which is why Great Wall Motors faces difficulties. The root of the problem may not be complex—industry structural issues, value distortion, and mismatched cycles... But if an ordinary person can see it, Wei Jianjun understands it better than anyone!

The question is, how will Great Wall Motors transform this 'structural helplessness' into 'organizational willpower'?

3

What Defines Wei Jianjun's Leadership Art?

If you can understand 'psychological manipulation in desperation' from an entrepreneur's perspective, you might realize that Wei Jianjun's anger this time is not just an emotion but an extreme demonstration of leadership art!

Why do I feel this way?

One detail should not be overlooked—Wei Jianjun openly displayed emotions at an external event that would typically stay internal. On the surface, he seemed to be criticizing the marketing team's failure. In reality, he chose Baoding, at Great Wall Motors' doorstep, to shout these heartfelt words aloud, unreservedly expressing the pain and reluctance the company is experiencing.

By publicly criticizing the entire marketing team, Wei Jianjun was not targeting a specific person!

There is an old Chinese saying: 'No one knows a minister better than the king, no one knows a soldier better than the general.' It means outsiders see results, but leaders understand the process; others judge right or wrong, but leaders know the hardships.

If you believe Wei Jianjun's ire was solely aimed at Li Ruifeng and Zhao Yongpo, you're underestimating the temperament of a billionaire boss! So, who exactly are Li Ruifeng and Zhao Yongpo? One is a seasoned veteran within Great Wall's marketing apparatus, having climbed the ranks from regional, market, after-sales, and sales positions to become the marketing general manager and Chief Growth Officer (CGO). The other is a technical maestro, honing his expertise from CAE, chassis, and platform R&D, with an in-depth understanding of automobiles, their hard-core capabilities, and the essence of the Guiyuan S Platform.

Under the leadership of these two individuals, the marketing team has never grappled with the challenge of selling a single car. Instead, they have embraced their role in aligning with market demands to fulfill the mission of countering prevailing market trends; they have leveraged their short-term operational duties to uphold a long-term vision; and they have utilized their front-end execution capabilities to tackle systemic value distortion issues.

Wei Jianjun is acutely aware of the necessity for adjustment and transformation in response to market demands, following industry trends, creating buzz, and emphasizing specifications. They must persevere in this 'uphill battle' amidst a market landscape dominated by larger vehicles... After all, Wei Jianjun himself is a renowned 'hardworking boss' in the industry, so how could he fail to empathize with the team's struggles?

Consequently, Wei Jianjun understands even more profoundly that the marketing team is striving to bridge the gap between consumer needs and technological advancements in car manufacturing. He is also aware that their efforts are aimed at helping users better comprehend the product capabilities of the V9X. The marketing team must follow industry trends, generate buzz, and highlight specifications... In this endeavor, excessive conservatism leads to failure, while excessive innovation may not be recognized by the market.

The reason behind this high-profile, emotionally charged public statement, which first acknowledges the team's hard work while also pointing out issues, is that Wei Jianjun has witnessed, over the past period, that the WEY team he leads has exhausted all possible actions a commercial organization can take in the current market environment! They have implemented comprehensive reforms, disseminated information widely, overhauled systems, and withstood immense pressures.

Another, less overt purpose of this high-profile, emotionally charged public statement is for Wei Jianjun to awaken the industry and users through this approach. It serves as a reminder to everyone on how to better identify a car that pursues long-term, essential, and fundamental qualities in a short-sighted, impulsive, and superficial market; it reminds the internal Great Wall team to constantly balance commercial realities with brand beliefs; to maximize the IP value of the founder, and to find ways to translate the intangible, invisible, and untouchable values of Great Wall into language that ordinary people can understand!

Returning to Wei Jianjun's public comments this time, they are not merely a critique of a few individuals but a commentary on the entire industry. They highlight the chaos that has ensued from the entire market being swept up in a trend of impulsive transformation, and they serve as a reminder to everyone not to forget the roots of a long-term-oriented enterprise that adheres to its principles in car manufacturing!

This is not merely about managing people; it is a public self-analysis by Great Wall! At the same time, it is a concentrated display of Wei Jianjun's management prowess.

End

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