As Xiaomi Auto Completes Registration and Is Officially Established, CEO Lei Jun Posts a Group Photo – Who Are With Him?

This article is authorized to be translated from the original article of LatePost. Original title: 小米汽车注册成立，雷军晒团队合影，他们都是谁? Author: He Qianming. Editor: Gong Fangyi

Five months after its official announcement, Chinese electronics firm Xiaomi declared via its official WeChat account that it had on September 1 completed the industrial and commercial registration of Xiaomi Auto Co. Ltd.

As the company’s Co-Founder and CEO Lei Jun revealed, he will also serve as the legal representative of Xiaomi Auto, with registered capital reaching 10 billion yuan ($1.55 billion) – the amount Xiaomi intends to invest in the early stage. Before the news was released, no registration information for Xiaomi Auto was available in the firm’s home province of Hubei, Beijing or the National Enterprise Credit Information Publicity System.

Meanwhile, Lei posted a group photo with 17 people, including himself and some important members of the car-manufacturing team, when he announced the establishment of the company’s new automotive arm.

This is the first time Xiaomi has made its automobile team public. Chinese media outlet LatePost confirmed with multiple people that the person in charge of the automobile business isn’t in the photo posted by Lei. All staff in the photo are either current or former Xiaomi employees, and only one has ever worked in the automobile industry.

People in the front row are Xiaomi executives. The seven people from the left are Xiaomi‘s most powerful members, namely:

Lin Shiwei (Alain Lam), Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Xiaomi group. He joined Xiaomi in 2020, and also serves as the Deputy Chairman of Airstar Digital Technology, a financial company that is a subsidiary of Xiaomi;

Zhang Feng, Partner and Senior Vice President. He joined Xiaomi in 2016 and is responsible for the household appliance, laptop and TV businesses;

Liu De, Co-Founder, Senior Vice President, Minister of the Group Organization Department. He is responsible for the appointment, dismissal, promotion and assessment of senior CCP cadres within Xiaomi;

Wang Xiang, partner and President of Xiaomi. He joined the company in 2015, and is responsible for finance, administration, public relations, government relations, human resources and other tasks.

Lei Jun, Co-Founder, Chairman and CEO of Xiaomi;

Hong Feng, Co-Founder and Senior Vice President of Xiaomi. He is also Chairman and CEO of Airstar Digital Technology;

Lu Weibing, partner and Senior Vice President of Xiaomi. He joined Xiaomi in 2019, and serves as President of China Region and President of International Department;

The two from the right in the front row are the heads of Xiaomi‘s Department of Government Relations, and they may play a role in the company’s foray into the automotive sector.

The first from the right is He Yong, Vice President of Xiaomi. He joined the company in 2018. He was previously the deputy director of the Hubei Provincial Government Liaison Office in Beijing, and is now responsible for the regional headquarters management and regional expansion.

The second from the right is Qi Yan, who joined Xiaomi in 2012. It is a bit surprising to see her. She was previously responsible for platform and external public relations, and has served as Senior Vice President of Xiaomi. Xiaomi‘s biography “From 10 to Infinity” says Qi Yan helped the company to negotiate the location of the first Mi Home offline store.

However, Qi retired from Xiaomi in November 2019. She appeared in this photo maybe due to the news that Xiaomi Auto is headquartered in Beijing. Public records show that Qi was a party cadre for the Central Committee of the China Democratic National Construction Association and the Beijing Municipal Committee of the China Democratic National Construction Association.

The back row features important members of Xiaomi‘s car-making team. They are, from the left:

Fan Jialin, an early employee of Xiaomi. He graduated from Peking University with a master’s degree, developed MiTalk and was later responsible for the design and research of intelligent hardware such as the Xiaomi router;

Chen Jinhong, Lei Jun’s business assistant. He once worked in the Xiaomi President’s office and is responsible for investigation of the automobile industry while Xiaomi prepares for car manufacturing;

Ye Hangjun, Chairman of the Xiaomi Technical Committee. He joined the company in 2012 and is a member of the Xiaomi Auto Department (formerly “Xiaomi Automobile Manufacturing Preparation Team”). He now is in charge of Xiaomi‘s Autopilot Team;

Li Xiaoshuang, a member of Xiaomi‘s car-making department, a veteran staff member, and former General Manager of the company’s home appliance department. He is responsible for the preparation of car-making, including supply chain and factory set up;

Yu Kai, a member of Xiaomi‘s car-making department, another veteran staff member, and former Deputy Chief of Staff at Xiaomi. He is currently responsible for preparing the cockpit in car-making;

Li Tianyuan, former senior designer of BMW Group. He worked on the exterior design of the BMW I Series EV. He is the only person in the photo who has worked in the automobile industry before.

Liu Anyu, a veteran staff member and R&D engineer of MIX smartphones. He now works in the car-making department;

Qin Zhifan, a veteran staff member of Xiaomi. He worked in Kingsoft before, then joined the Xiaomi Marketing Department. He is responsible for publicity and design.

As stated above, not all important staff members for Xiaomi‘s car-making initiative are in the photo. LatePost learned that Xiaomi has recruited several senior executives from the automobile industry, but has not yet disclosed their identities.

In addition, Lin Bin, Xiaomi‘s Co-Founder and Vice Chairman, isn’t in the photo. Reports say that Lin is now in the U.S. overseeing Xiaomi‘s business in North America. Wang Chuan isn’t in the photo either. Wang is a Co-Founder, Senior Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer at Xiaomi, and has been advocating the firm’s car-making drive.

Additionally, Xiaomi recently bought autonomous driving company DeepMotion for $77 million, but the firm’s founding team members didn’t show up in the photo. Xiaomi says the acquisition is yet to be completed.

SEE ALSO: Xiaomi Auto Formally Established With Team of Nearly 300 People

Since its official announcement that it would begin making cars, Xiaomi has released little information. In addition to Lei Jun’s announcement of the 10 billion yuan investment, Xiaomi has invested in laser radar manufacturer Hesai Technology, 4D millimeter wave radar manufacturer Geometrical Perception and Learning Co., Ltd., and autonomous driving chip company Black Sesame Technologies.

The latest news says the automobile team now has nearly 300 staff. Wang Xiang, President of Xiaomi, said at the conference call for the firm’s second quarter financial report that Xiaomi is still in the early stages of car-making, and that its focus now is to recruit more talent to organize a team and define its first electric vehicle model.

About LatePost

LatePost (www.latepost.com) is a business news outlet, cofounded by Caijing Magazine, one of the most influential financial news publications in China.

LatePost’s official WeChat account reaches an audience of 1 million readers per month who seek the news and information critical to their business. Another 15 million readers read our stories on other Chinese social platforms.

Our original editorial insight was that Internet companies had migrated to the absolute center of China’s economic operation. Now, they have become the most vital infrastructure of China, wielding enormous power but also attracting scrutiny from the public and the authority.

The LatePost strives to seek the truth in this sector, regularly publishes hard-hitting investigations and high profile interviews. We have interviewed most founders of big tech companies in China, Including Zhang Yiming of Bytedance, Colin Huang of PDD, Wang Xing of Meituan, and Lei Jun of Xiaomi.