Liao Qinghong, who had served as chief talent officer at Xpeng and spent 18 years at Huawei, has joined Xingji Meizu, according to local media.

(Image credit: CnEVPost)

Liao Qinghong, one of Xpeng's (NYSE: XPEV) former core executives, has joined Xingji Meizu, the phone maker controlled by Geely founder Eric Li, according to a report in local media outlet LatePost today.

Liao has been with Xingji Meizu for several months, but the scope of his role has yet to be fully defined as the phone maker's organization is being restructured, LatePost said, citing a person familiar with the matter.

He is familiar with the phone, Internet, and automotive businesses, which are also Xingji Meizu's main operations, the report noted.

Xingji Meizu is also looking to mimic tech giant Huawei's Zhixuan model in the automotive sector, the report said, citing a person from a new carmaker.

Huawei has three ways of working with car companies, with the model of partnering with OEMs to build cars being the one it's most deeply involved in, which is known as Zhixuan.

Meizu, one of China's first smartphone makers, was founded in 2003 and became one of the most recognizable phone makers in the smartphone era. But over the past few years, the company has seen a serious decline in market share.

On July 4, 2022, Hubei Xingji Shidai Technology, a cell phone company founded by Eric Li, announced that it had completed the acquisition of a majority stake in Meizu.

Liao had served as chief talent officer, vice president of sales, and head of the E platform at Xpeng, and reported directly to the electric vehicle (EV) maker's CEO, He Xiaopeng, the LatePost report noted.

He had served at Huawei for 18 years, and in 2016 he joined Qihoo 360 as senior vice president in charge of human resources management.

In May 2018, Liao joined Xpeng as chief talent officer, in charge of human resource management. In October 2022, he began working part-time as head of E platform and left in March 2023, according to LatePost.

Liao is the seventh vice president to leave Xpeng in 2023, with several others including Wu Xinzhou, vice president of autonomous driving; Lv Xueqing, vice president of finance; and Liu Minghui, vice president of powertrain, the report noted.

Meanwhile, Xpeng has recruited some new talent, such as Wu Jiaming, former vice president and chief financial officer of SAIC-GM-Wuling, who is now Xpeng's vice president of finance and accounting, according to LatePost.

Ji Yu, Xpeng's former vice president of Internet center, has rejoined the company as an autopilot consultant. Former Great Wall Motor's general manager of manufacturing, Zhang Li, and senior consultant at Ries Positioning Strategy & Consulting, Jiang Ziyang, have also joined Xpeng as vice president of manufacturing and director of product planning, respectively, the story noted.

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