{"id":909361,"date":"2026-05-30T14:13:35","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T19:13:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/30\/xiaomi-boosts-ev-business-with-new-hires-including-first-cto-appointment\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T14:13:35","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T19:13:35","slug":"xiaomi-boosts-ev-business-with-new-hires-including-first-cto-appointment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/30\/xiaomi-boosts-ev-business-with-new-hires-including-first-cto-appointment\/","title":{"rendered":"Xiaomi boosts EV business with new hires, including first CTO appointment"},"content":{"rendered":"
News<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Written by Cheng Zi<\/a>\u00a0Published on\u00a0

\n

Xiaomi<\/a> announced on April 17 in an internal email that Hu Zhengnan had been appointed vice president of Xiaomi and CTO of its automotive division, while Song Gang had been named vice president of the automotive division and chief of staff, sources told 36Kr<\/i>. It marks the first time Xiaomi has created a CTO role for its car business since announcing the unit\u2019s establishment in 2021.<\/p>\n

According to 36Kr<\/i>, both executives bring more than two decades of experience in the automotive sector.<\/p>\n

Xiaomi currently has nearly 10,000 R&D employees in its automotive business. With a growing number of industry specialists joining, it is accelerating the buildout of a full-chain talent system spanning R&D, design, manufacturing, safety, and supply chain.<\/p>\n

Hu Zhengnan\u2019s move to Xiaomi appears to be a two-way decision shaped by years of observation and validation.<\/p>\n

Hu entered the automotive sector in 1997 and now has nearly three decades of experience. He is widely regarded as a leading full-vehicle engineering expert from the generation that drove the rise of China\u2019s automotive sector.<\/p>\n

His career mirrors the evolution of China\u2019s homegrown car brands. In 1997, he joined the Shanghai Automotive Industry Technical Center as an engineer. In 2000, he co-founded Launch Design and helped lead development of the BYD<\/a> F3, a model that topped China\u2019s A-class sedan market for multiple consecutive years and laid the foundation for BYD\u2019s transition from batteries to full vehicle manufacturing.<\/p>\n

He also contributed to the engineering and development of the Haval H6, which opened up China\u2019s compact SUV market and held the domestic SUV sales lead for more than 100 cumulative months. He later led the Geely<\/a> Boyue project, a model that helped solidify Geely\u2019s position in the mainstream SUV market.<\/p>\n

After stepping away from frontline vehicle programs in 2021 and joining Shunwei Capital, Hu broadened his perspective on global automotive technology through an investment lens.<\/p>\n

Public information shows that Hu joined Shunwei Capital as an investment partner in 2021, while also participating in Xiaomi\u2019s early automotive efforts as an adviser. He also appeared at the SU7 launch event, Auto China 2024, and the SU7 Ultra\u2019s N\u00fcrburgring challenge.<\/p>\n

Lei Jun did not immediately bring a veteran full-vehicle expert who had led multiple mass-market programs into the core management team.<\/p>\n

This appointment reflects a milestone after nearly five years of organizational integration, with Hu, already trusted by the team, formally becoming a core executive and the chief technology leader of Xiaomi\u2019s automotive business.<\/p>\n

Song Gang\u2019s career also spans two phases of China\u2019s automotive sector.<\/p>\n

Before joining Tesla, he built extensive experience in manufacturing and supply chain management at leading global automotive companies. Starting in 1999, he held long-term roles at SAIC General Motors and Ford, making him part of the generation of locally trained managers that emerged during the peak of China\u2019s joint venture automotive era.<\/p>\n

In 2018, Song joined Tesla\u2019s Shanghai Gigafactory. Construction began in January 2019, and the plant achieved volume production and delivery of the Model 3 within the same year.<\/p>\n

Song later served as senior director of manufacturing, vice president of manufacturing, and plant manager in Shanghai. He also worked in the US on factory construction and business planning, and later led the establishment of Tesla\u2019s Megafactory in Shanghai for energy storage. In 2024, he joined Envision Energy as senior vice president of integrated supply chain, extending his experience into the broader new energy sector.<\/p>\n

Beyond Hu and Song, Xiaomi\u2019s automotive leadership team includes both long-serving Xiaomi executives and experienced automotive specialists.<\/p>\n

The former includes Ye Hangjun, general manager of the autonomous driving division, who joined Xiaomi in 2012 and has served as general manager of the artificial intelligence<\/a> department and chairman of the technology committee, among other roles.<\/p>\n

The latter group spans key departments, including Chen Guang, head of end-to-end smart driving technology; Chen Long, head of the cognitive foundation model team; Wang Naiyan, head of the L3 project; and Li Tianyuan, general manager of industrial design and chief designer of Xiaomi\u2019s automotive business.<\/p>\n

Xiaomi\u2019s talent strategy has also expanded globally. Since last year, it has established an automotive R&D center in Munich, Germany, which the company has confirmed. According to an earlier 36Kr<\/i> report, the center is led by Rudolf Dittrich, who spent 15 years at BMW, served as head of BMW\u2019s limited-run vehicle division, and has engineering management experience with the Williams and Sauber Formula One teams.<\/p>\n

Among the team members, Jannis Hellwig previously led performance management and simulation for BMW\u2019s Formula E program; Ricard Aiguabella Macau was an aerodynamics specialist for Ferrari\u2019s Formula One team; and Dusan Sarac has an R&D background at BMW and Rolls-Royce. Public information also shows that Jean, the interior designer behind the Mercedes-Benz Vision GT, recently became head of Xiaomi\u2019s Munich design studio.<\/p>\n

This level of talent density is rare, even globally. Viewed more broadly, Xiaomi\u2019s latest organizational upgrade may point to the next challenge facing China\u2019s automotive sector.<\/p>\n

Over the past two decades, China\u2019s automotive sector has achieved two major transitions: from contract manufacturing to independent development, and from internal combustion engines to electrification. The next phase is whether Chinese automakers can build globally competitive electric vehicles<\/a>\u00a0on the foundation of a mature domestic market.<\/p>\n

That depends on companies developing not only strong products but also industrial-grade systems required for global competition, spanning technology, manufacturing, organizational capability, and talent depth.<\/p>\n

For consumers, these organizational and system upgrades are expected to translate into better vehicles, more reliable delivery, and stronger long-term support. For the sector, however, Xiaomi\u2019s second chapter in automotives appears to have just begun.<\/p>\n

KrASIA features translated and adapted content that was originally published by 36Kr. This <\/i>article<\/i><\/a> was written by Xu Caiyu for 36Kr.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

News Written by Cheng Zi\u00a0Published on\u00a021 Apr 2026\u00a0\u00a04 mins read Xiaomi announced on April 17 in an internal email that Hu Zhengnan had been appointed vice president of Xiaomi and CTO of its automotive division, while Song Gang had been named vice president of the automotive division and chief of staff, sources told 36Kr. It<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":909362,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[24646,28727],"tags":[12545,5312],"class_list":["post-909361","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-boosts","category-xiaomi","tag-boosts","tag-xiaomi"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909361","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=909361"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/909361\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/909362"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=909361"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=909361"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=909361"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}