Shanghai GM Names New President

General Motors China hires Ye Yongming as president-Shanghai General Motors, replacing chief general manager Ding Lei, who held the top post for the past six years.

While GM China and SGM did not provide details of Lei’s departure, sources tell Ward’s he left the company to take a post as chairman of the Shanghai Zhangjiang Hi-tech Park Development, which operates a high technology park in Shanghai focused on the property management and leasing business.

Ye, 47, most recently served as vice president and general manager of the service and trading department of Shanghai Automotive Industry Corp.

The appointment of Ye received approval from the Shanghai municipal government, which owns SAIC interests in SGM, a joint venture between GM and SAIC.

Prior to joining SAIC, Ye played a major role in establishing Shanghai Telstar Telematics Service in 2009 and the Shanghai Chengxin Used Car Div. in 2010. He served earlier as vice general manager of the SAIC planning division and as general manager and vice secretary of the SAIC Communist Party of China Committee.

Ye also worked as executive vice president at Shanghai Volkswagen Automotive, an SAIC joint venture with Volkswagen. He also was general manager of sales for SAIC-Volkswagen. In those roles, Ye helped establish the Volkswagen and Skoda dual brand strategy in China.

Ye, 47, most recently served as vice president and general manager of the service and trading department of SAIC.