Li Fenggang, the first locally hired executive to represent Hyundai's side as general manager of Beijing Hyundai since the venture was set up in 2002, has left after about a year in the post. An internal farewell gathering was held on the evening of 30 October, according to NetEase Auto, just three days after Korean-brand monthly sales in China dropped to around 10,000 vehicles and briefly trended on social media.
Li graduated from Tsinghua University in 2003 and spent 22 years at FAW, including a stint as executive deputy general manager of FAW Audi. In September 2025 he was transferred within the FAW group, left two months later, and joined Hyundai Motor China. His appointment as Beijing Hyundai general manager took effect on 10 November 2025 – the first time a Chinese national had been nominated by Hyundai's side to run the 50:50 joint venture with BAIC.
Why the CEO walked away
The report traces the departure to deepening differences between Beijing Hyundai's two shareholders. The Chinese side wants higher sales targets and narrower losses, while Hyundai wants to protect profit with more conservative volume goals. The dispute escalated in July, when the company could not agree on a sales target at all, leaving dealers without sales goals or promotion policies and temporarily pausing payments to suppliers. Sources told NetEase Auto that two representative senior managers at the venture had gone for long periods without meeting each other, slowing decision-making in a market that demands fast responses.
At a July auto forum, Li had drawn attention by arguing that some carmakers were cutting essential validation to rush vehicles to market, triggering an industry debate that also raised Beijing Hyundai's profile. But even that could not overcome the paralysis, the report says.
What the numbers show
Beijing Hyundai's sales fell for five straight years from a peak of 1.1 million units to 360,000 units in 2021. The venture sold 210,000 units in 2025, with Yiche data pegging retail sales at 125,700 units and the gap possibly representing exports. NetEase Auto notes that combined sales of Korean brands in China have now fallen to around 10,000 vehicles a month.
Financially, Beijing Hyundai slipped to its first annual loss in 2018, when BAIC's investment income from the venture swung to a loss of 33.8 million yuan (about $4.8 million). From 2022 through the first nine months of 2024, the company accumulated net losses of 13.08 billion yuan ($1.84 billion). In 2024, BAIC and Hyundai agreed to inject $1.095 billion (about 8 billion yuan at the time) into the venture in proportion to their 50:50 equity, but the report questions how long that can last without self-generated cash flow.
The pressure has spread to the venture's captive finance unit. In October, BAIC said its investment subsidiary and Beijing Hyundai would withdraw from Beijing Hyundai Auto Finance through a capital reduction, collecting about 3.144 billion yuan ($443 million) in cash. The finance arm's net profit fell 43.5% to 44.48 million yuan in 2025, and it posted a net loss of 123 million yuan in the first half of this year.
NetEase Auto argues that Korean brands still have a vehicle parc of more than 10 million in China and a reputation for decent quality and cost control, so there is room to turn around. But unlike General Motors, which has now been profitable in China for eight straight quarters after its own restructuring, Hyundai has yet to make the same structural investment in the market. Li's exit, the report concludes, shows that even a capable manager cannot succeed when shareholders cannot work as one.
