Guangzhou, a major economic hub, has undergone a significant personnel reshuffle.

It was officially announced yesterday that Sun Zhiyang has been appointed acting mayor of Guangzhou.

Sun Zhiyang is a native of Fuyuan, Jilin Province. Prior to this appointment, he served as the youngest vice governor in Guangdong Province.

Crucially, he has spent 24 years in the automotive sector and is a veteran of FAW.

Consequently, after moving to Guangdong, he also served as the “chain leader” for the automotive industry chain.

Currently, Guangzhou’s automotive industry is on the rise . With Mayor Sun’s arrival, there is even greater anticipation for whether the city can stride confidently toward becoming a trillion-yuan “Smart Car City.”

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Tag: Veteran Automotive Professional

Mayor Sun is a “veteran of the automotive industry”—why is that?

More than 20 years ago, he worked at the Changchun Automotive Research Institute, where he served as a technician and then chief designer in the chassis design department of the medium-sized vehicle division.

In 2001, he joined China First Automobile Group (FAW), beginning his exploration and research in the automotive industry as a product planner.

In 2018, he was appointed as a member of the Standing Committee of the Party Committee and Deputy General Manager of FAW Group, becoming the first member of the leadership team born in the 1970s.

It is understood that he has also concurrently served as Chairman of FAW Mobility Technology and Chairman of FAW Bestune Passenger Car, among other roles.

In 2020, FAW became a state-owned automotive enterprise that achieved simultaneous growth in sales volume, profits, and revenue.

As a member of FAW and a participant in this process, Sun Zhiyang accumulated extensive experience.

In 2021, when he left FAW Group, he stated that elevating domestic automotive brands would require the continued dedication of FAW’s people.

It is evident that prior to his transfer to Guangdong, Mayor Sun had been deeply involved in the automotive sector for over 20 years.

Over the years, Guangzhou has also witnessed the growth and development of its automotive industry, striving to achieve a transformation “from a City of Cars to a City of Smart Vehicles.”

At this critical juncture, the arrival of an acting mayor with a background in the automotive industry is a significant asset for the city’s development.

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A Trillion-Yuan Industry

In fact, even before Sun Zhiyang assumed the role of Vice Governor of Guangdong Province, he served as the “chain leader” for the automotive industry chain.

For him, this marked a shift from leading a single company to managing an entire regional industrial cluster.

How important is the automotive industrial cluster to Guangzhou?

First, in terms of automobile production, its position is relatively solid.

Second, the automotive industry is Guangzhou’s largest pillar industry.

Over the decade from 2012 to 2022, the number of automotive-related enterprises in Guangzhou more than tripled.

Currently, it is one of the nation’s most important automotive production bases, a National Foreign Trade Transformation and Upgrading Base (Automotive and Parts), and a National Pilot City for the Demonstration and Promotion of Energy-Efficient and New Energy Vehicles. It has formed a complete industrial chain centered on vehicle manufacturing, with a concentration of parts enterprises and a constant stream of startups emerging.

As of 2022, Guangzhou is home to 11 vehicle manufacturers and has attracted more than 1,200 automotive parts production and trading enterprises, maintaining the top spot in national automobile production for two consecutive years.

This is not merely a statistical shift but the fruit of Guangzhou’s dedicated efforts to build a tiered enterprise cultivation system and a full-lifecycle support system.

It is worth noting that after years of planning, Guangzhou’s automotive industry has formed a pattern of complementary strengths and coordinated development across three clusters in the north, east, and south.

North: Huadu District, led by Dongfeng Nissan and supported by Fortune 500 component suppliers

East: The city’s first 5G autonomous driving demonstration zone and smart manufacturing park have been established

South: Panyu District and Nansha District are respectively building automotive industry ecosystems and spatial layouts

Public records show that since taking up his post in Guangdong, Sun Zhiyang has attended numerous events such as the Guangzhou International Auto Show and the Guangzhou Automotive Industry Conference, and has visited cities including Jiangmen and Foshan to inspect the development of local new energy vehicle and automotive parts industries.

Now, this “automotive professional” with deep experience in automotive corporate planning has assumed the role of Acting Mayor of Guangzhou, signaling a “shift into high gear” for Guangzhou’s automotive industry as it steadily advances toward becoming a trillion-yuan “Smart Car City.”

Judging by current trends, Guangzhou’s automotive industry is on an upward trajectory . Notably, amid fierce competition among automakers this year, a new 100-billion-yuan unicorn has emerged.

We note that on Forbes’ list of newly minted “unicorns” in mainland China for 2022, a Guangzhou-based company stands out prominently at the very top.

That company is GAC Aion. With a valuation exceeding 100 billion yuan, it has become the “King of New Unicorns” in 2022.

In this era of major transformation within the automotive industry, after establishing a lead in the first half of the electrification wave, Guangzhou has taken the lead in laying out strategies for the second half—the era of intelligent vehicles. By building an intelligent connected vehicle industry ecosystem, the city is transforming its advantages in the automotive industry’s “old track” into strengths on the “new track.”

This year, the city has set its sights on becoming a trillion-yuan “Smart Vehicle City,” with a target date of 2025 to reach that milestone.

For Guangzhou’s automotive industry, Sun Zhiyang’s appointment as acting mayor represents a boost from an industry insider. Of course, in addition to the challenge of achieving the trillion-yuan automotive industry target, the city must also contend with the competition to become China’s fourth-largest city by GDP.

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Personnel Selection: A Corporate Executive Appointed from Outside

Guangzhou has welcomed a technocrat with deep expertise in the automotive sector.

This inevitably brings to mind the appointment of Qin Weizhong as Vice Mayor and Acting Mayor of Shenzhen in April 2021 — he , too, had worked in the corporate sector for over two decades, serving successively at Sinopec and PetroChina.

In March 2019, his appointment as Vice Governor of Guangdong Province drew significant media attention; after all, the promotion of a Tsinghua University PhD born in the 1970s to a vice-ministerial level was indeed major news. Two years later, he was appointed Deputy Mayor and Acting Mayor of Shenzhen.

For those with corporate experience, running a business means letting the data speak for itself; the top executive bears the responsibility for whether the company can turn a profit.

It must be said that the appointment of corporate executives to local government positions reflects the higher authorities’ approach to talent selection and development, which prioritizes cultivating “broad-based, multi-disciplinary, and versatile professionals.” When selecting such officials, both the practical needs of the local area and the individual’s professional growth are taken into account.

It has become a natural progression to deploy such officials—who understand economics and management and possess strong professional expertise in key sectors—to local governments.

Practice has proven that the “parachuting” of corporate executives into local government positions is closely linked to local efforts to develop high-end manufacturing, establish key industries, and implement digital transformation strategies.

Take Guangzhou as an example: last September, a special meeting was convened to promote the high-quality development of the automotive industry.

At this high-level meeting, attended by the principal leaders of the four governing bodies—the Guangzhou Municipal Party Committee, Municipal Government, Municipal People’s Congress, and Municipal Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference—it was emphasized that “the automotive industry is Guangzhou’s largest industry.” Building on this, the meeting further clarified that “we must resolutely implement the strategy of ‘industry first, manufacturing as the foundation of the city,’ and mobilize the entire city’s resources to elevate, strengthen, optimize, and expand the automotive industry.”

Therefore, how to promote the high-quality development of pillar industries in the future has become a critical challenge for Guangzhou and reflects the high expectations that city leaders have for the automotive sector.