Chongqing - Chongqing Kuayue(Group) Co Ltd held a product launch event on June 7 in Singapore for its new KYC V7 electric van. This marked a great step for Kuayue Group in exporting new energy vehicles.
As is well known, Singapore has strict standards for approved import vehicle types, emissions, and safety, making it challenging for cars to enter the Singapore market. One key reason for this advancement is that Han Luyang, as the main leader in charge of the project and also the vice president of Kuayue Group, often "plays outside the box" and does not follow conventional rules.
The automotive production line of Chongqing Kuayue(Group) Co Ltd. (Photo/Han Luyang)
Not rushing to take over the family business
Han Luyang's father, Han Hua, is currently a director at Kuayue Group. Before transitioning into business, he was an official in Chongqing. His second uncle, Han Ming, was the former factory director of Pingdingshan Coal Group, managing over 2,000 employees, and now serves as the chairman of Kuayue Group. The youngest uncle, Han Qing, was the top scorer of Sichuan province in the college entrance exam and went on to study at Tsinghua University. He is now a director and president of Kuayue Group.
Given such an impressive lineage, it's typical for the younger generation to bend to the elders' will and follow their arrangements. However, Han Luyang was determined to break the mold.
In 2005, Han Luyang returned from studying in the UK. According to the expectations of his father and uncles, he should have returned to Chongqing to be groomed as the successor and join the Kuayue Group to familiarize himself with the company's businesses. However, Han Luyang disagreed. He expressed that he wasn't ready to return to the company and instead wanted to start his career in Beijing first.
For this plan, his father and uncles were not only furious but also somewhat annoyed. They advised him, "Join the company early as the 'successor,' don't take a detour." Han Luyang responded, "I studied international trade, but Kuayue Group doesn't have any business like this right now, so it's not aligned with my expertise."
The Kuayue Group's development at the time was relatively stable, and Han Luyang felt that such an environment lacked challenges.
Ultimately, Han took a job at an international real estate exhibition company in Beijing. It wasn't until 2006, when Kuayue Group needed to develop its foreign trade business, that Han Luyang finally returned to the company.
Exploring markets and learning at factories
When Han Luyang first joined the company's foreign trade department, he volunteered to accompany his colleagues to Pakistan to handle a tricky issue.
"The international market is both a blue ocean and full of unknowns," Han said, looking forward to doing the best and proving himself.
However, he was caught off guard when he stepped off the plane.
The runway was dusty, and the hot wind hit his face. After a long journey, he arrived at his accommodation, only to find that there was no air conditioning and numerous mosquitoes.
"Although I was somewhat mentally prepared, I didn't expect it to be so tough," Han recalled. "The environment was challenging, but what was even harder to deal with was the difficult customer."
The customer was a large local car dealership and was dissatisfied with the after-sales terms, which made the negotiation tense. At one point, a representative from the other side, visibly agitated, slammed the table, stood up, and began shouting at Han Luyang and his team with his finger less than 10 cm from Han's nose.
A rookie in the business, Han had never faced such hostility. In the past, he might have been furious, but at that moment, he controlled his emotions, kept a polite smile on his face, and calmly explained his point with steady and measured tones.
After a while, the other party reluctantly sat down, and the negotiation resumed.
"We later proposed a solution: we provided a targeted plan to address their key concerns while they needed to withdraw some unreasonable demands. In the end, not only did we resolve the disagreement, but our cooperation also became closer," Han said, adding that the biggest takeaway from this trip was that in negotiations, one should not be swayed by emotions or let the other party control the pace.
In the following years, Han conducted numerous research trips and personally visited regions like Latin America, Southeast Asia, Africa, Central Asia, and the Middle East, helping the company expand its foreign trade presence to dozens of countries. Thanks to his outstanding performance, he was promoted to deputy director of the foreign trade department.
Once the foreign trade business ran smoothly, Han Luyang moved to the company's automotive parts division to manage the supply chain and sales market.
Before this, he only understood the technical framework of the company's products but wasn't familiar with the finer details. Therefore, the first thing he did in his new role was to catch up on technical knowledge.
As a result, the factory workers often saw Han Luyang on the production floor, insisting that technical experts explain everything in detail until he fully understood. He would also attend various technical meetings and team discussions, taking copious notes in his notebook.
Han even spent two years working at the company's subsidiary, Chongqing Changan Kuayue Automobile, to familiarize himself with the complete vehicle business. Today, regarding his grasp and understanding of the technical aspects, some of the company's senior managers even feel they can't match up.
Two failed attempts to explore new fields
In 2016, while on a business trip, Han Luyang discovered a promising patented technology: the electric wheelchair bed.
"The bed can be electrically folded to transform directly into a wheelchair. This product has demand in hospitals, senior care institutions, and households that require special care," Han explained. After returning to Chongqing, he immediately proposed that the company collaborate with the patent holder to develop the product.
His elders were skeptical about the project, believing its prospects were uncertain, but Han Luyang felt they were being overly conservative.
"In recent years, the market for light commercial vehicles in China has been steadily growing, but the technology and manufacturing barriers aren't high, and the profit margins are relatively low. Product homogeneity and price wars are major issues," Han said. He wanted to explore new fields for the company.
To this end, he passionately made his case and persuaded the company's decision-makers to support the project. Within less than a year, they had produced a prototype. Unfortunately, the product could not be industrialized due to issues related to policies and regulations.
Han Luyang didn't get discouraged. Soon after, he found another promising project.
At the time, there was a domestic unicorn company with an advanced C-end operating model and philosophy. Han Luyang strongly advocated investing in the company and gained support from Han Qing. However, Han Hua and Han Ming expressed doubts.
Once again, Han Luyang persuaded the company to collaborate with the enterprise. However, due to differing philosophies, after a period of cooperation, Kuayue Group eventually exited the project.
"It's not true to say I didn't feel any burden after the two projects failed," Han admitted. However, he did not lose the courage to continue exploring. At the same time, he realized that his experience, vision, and capabilities were still lacking compared to his elders, which encouraged him to further strengthen his learning in his future work.
Seizing new opportunities
In 2018, Han Luyang was promoted to Vice President of Kuayue Group. At this time, the automotive industry was undergoing a critical period of transformation and upgrading.
"The company's decision-making team was in agreement about developing new energy vehicles," Han said, and the biggest disagreement was when to start.
Han Luyang believed the sooner, the better.
"As technology matures and national policies push forward, the new energy commercial vehicle market is about to undergo a major transformation," he explained. In his view, the company must seize this opportunity to take a strategic leap.
However, others in the company thought it would be better to wait and observe. After all, gasoline-powered vehicles had been the core of Kuayue Group's business for many years, and there were concerns about the risk of shifting focus.
The decision-making team failed to reach a consensus at several important company meetings. After one such meeting, a senior executive took Han Luyang aside and advised him, "This is a long-term decision, so it's important to be cautious. Don't deviate from the traditional approach."
Han remained silent, but his resolve grew stronger. After the meeting, he led his team to conduct extensive in-depth research. He then met with every leader who had opposed the idea, presenting them with detailed data and objective analysis, helping them realize the current situation.
As a result, the development of new energy vehicles gained strong support. In 2021, Changan Kuayue established a division for new energy businesses, and models like the Kuayue Star V7EV, Kuayue King X1EV, X3EV, and D5EV were launched.
In recent years, the sales of domestic new energy commercial vehicles have surged, with market penetration rising from 3.1 percent in 2021 to over 20 percent by August this year. Among them, the sales of new energy vehicles for urban distribution and logistics have grown rapidly, increasing by over 80 percent year-on-year from January to August.
Thanks to its timely investment, Kuayue Group has reaped significant market rewards. The Kuayue Star V7EV has consistently ranked second in sales among new energy logistics vehicles, while the Kuayue Star V5EV, Kuayue King X1EV, and X3EV have all ranked in the top ten in their respective market segments in recent years.
In the first half year, Kuayue Group’s production of new energy vehicles grew by 76 percent year-on-year. It is expected to reach a production and sales volume of 23,000 units this year, an 80 percent increase compared to last year, with an expected output value of 2 billion yuan ($281.33 million)
Today, Han Luyang is still driving innovation.
For example, he proposed integrating electrohydraulic braking systems and active energy recovery technology into vehicle products, which would improve range and safety.
He also advocated for upgrading production lines' automation and flexible manufacturing, and he plans to invest 200 million yuan over the next 3 to 5 years in digital transformation and intelligent upgrades.
"Next year, we will launch two or three new energy products, innovating the entire vehicle's electronic and electrical architecture and defining the car through software," Han said, insisting that if breaking from tradition means innovation, he will continue to do so.
(Bai Lin, a reporter from Chongqing Daily, contributed the Chinese version of this report.)