HONG KONG — The board of directors of FDG Electric Vehicles Limited (“FDG”, stock code: 729.HK) (the “Company”, and together with its subsidiaries, the “Group”) is pleased to announce that Mr. Tong Zhiyuan (“Mr. Tong”) has been appointed as the Chief Operating Officer of the Group and an executive director of the Company with effect from 15 February 2017. As the Chief Operating Officer of the Group, Mr. Tong acts as the head of electric vehicle division of the Group which includes the Hangzhou, Kunming and Guizhou production facilities, responsible for its daily operation and management, research and development, manufacture, distribution, sales and marketing. The Group expresses a warm welcome to Mr. Tong for joining the Group. With almost 30 years’ experience in the automobile industry, Mr. Tong is a well-recognized technical senior executive within the industry, and he is an expert in formulating the overall operations strategy and brand planning. With professional knowledge in the automobile industry and rich experience in management, Mr. Tong is the perfect candidate to help FDG to establish and strengthen the brand of Changjiang Automobile, expand our footprint in both domestic and overseas markets, develop new EV models, establish a large scale operation management and set the new milestone for the Group.
FDG has transformed from a lithium battery manufacturer to an integrated electric vehicle enterprise with a complete industry chain. The Group is, thus, craving for professionals in senior managing level, to professionalize and scale up the management and operations of the Group. Before joining the Group, Mr. Tong has a strong track record as senior management and key technical roles in well-known domestic and foreign automobile enterprises, including: the chief executive officer of Volvo Car Corporation China District, vice president of Geely Holding Group and the chief operating officer in the acquisition of Volvo Car Corporation; the managing director and chief engineer of Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co., Ltd., director and senior executive vice president of Beijing Benz Automotive Co., Ltd. and other managerial positions.
Mr. Tong started his career as an engineer and he is now a well-recognized technical executive within the industry. With solid working experience and outstanding performance in both joint venture enterprises and self-owned brand, Mr. Tong is indeed an exceptional versatile talent. He was responsible for the acquisition of Volvo Car Corporation and participated in formulating and implementing the rebranding strategy afterwards, which assisted the brand in achieving a sustainable growth in Chinese market, and made China District becoming the largest market for Volvo. During the period when he was in Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co., Ltd., he supervised and participated in the planning of its self-owned brand and the promotion of its independent development capability. Meanwhile, Mr. Tong led the localization of producing the Mercedes-Benz E-Class/C-Class models for sales in China.
Against a more competitive industry backdrop, Mr. Tong’s joining the Group will play an important role in enhancing the brand of Changjiang Automobile and long-term operations strategy. With Mr. Tong’s solid working experience and sharp judgement, the Group will be able to fully execute the integrated businesses including pure electric vehicles product design, manufacture and sales; to grow footprint both domestically and internationally, to improve the brand image, to increase the sales and market share, and to continuously strengthen the Group’s competitive edge, so that the Group can stand out from numerous vehicle enterprises and become a market leader of the new energy vehicle industry. In the future, the Group will endeavor to become a global first class integrated manufacturer of electric new energy vehicles, and contribute to the upgrading and transformation of China’s new energy vehicle industry.