A man walks past a company logo of FAW-Volkswagen at an automobile exhibition in Fuyang, Anhui Province. (Photo : Reuters)
Two new leaders were reportedly appointed to head China's two major state-owned auto manufacturing companies--China FAW Group Corp. and Dongfeng Motor Corp.--after they were rocked by corruption scandals recently.
Caixin, a Beijing-based weekly business magazine, reported that Xu Ping, Dongfeng's current chairman, will seat as the chairman of FAW, while Zhu Yanfeng, former FAW chairman and now vice-secretary of the Chinese Communist Party in Jilin Province, will head Dongfeng as new chairman.
The government has not formally announced the appointments of both Xu and Zhu, the Automotive News China reported.
According to the report, Xu, 58, started his career in the automotive industry at Dongfeng and he was promoted to head the state-owned company as chairman in 2010.
On the other hand, Zhu, 54, headed FAW as its chairman from 1999 to 2007.
Several senior executives at FAW and Dongfeng and their joint ventures have either been imprisoned or become the subject of corruption probes in the past two years.
The report said that two vice presidents of FAW-Volkswagen Automobile Co.'s sales company have been sentenced to life imprisonment for accepting bribes from advertising agencies and dealers engaged with the company.
The FAW-Volkswagen partnership produces Volkswagen and Audi cars in China.
In March, the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection of the Communist Party of China, the country's corruption watchdog, investigated FAW's chairman Xu Jianyi for alleged corruption, while two senior executives at Dongfeng's joint venture with Nissan Motor Co. have also been investigated for similar allegations.
