Today, BAIC is one of the giants of the automotive industry in China. Last year it sold a total of 1.75 million cars and in 2024 surpassed 70 billion dollars in profit. One of the key figures in the enormous growth of this Asian brand was Xu Heyi, at the helm of the company for nearly 15 years and a pivotal figure for its national and international expansion. For example, today BAIC is the largest shareholder of Mercedes-Benz.
But now Xu leaves a huge mark on BAIC’s history: this Monday, he has been sentenced to death after being found guilty of several corruption offenses. Although that does not mean he will be executed immediately.
Death Sentence, Yes, But Not
The No. 3 Beijing Intermediate People’s Court has just issued the verdict: Xu Heyi has been found guilty of several financial crimes, including bribery and money laundering. The punishment, as a penalty that unifies all offenses, will be the death sentence. The ruling also orders the confiscation of all his personal assets and deprives him of his political rights for life: from voting to holding any public office.
And more precisely, it concerns a “death penalty with two-year suspended execution“. This figure in the Chinese penal system is provided for certain offenses, including corruption. It means that, during that period, the execution is suspended. Moreover, in those two years, the sentence can be commuted to imprisonment, depending on the defendant’s conduct and the conditions set by the judiciary.
Regarding the crimes themselves, the court’s resolution does not detail the amount of money involved in the bribes nor the amount of the money laundering. In any case, this comes more than three years after the anti-corruption authorities announced the investigation into the former BAIC president. It occurred within the framework of a crackdown on corruption that focused on officials and executives of Chinese state-owned enterprises. Xu Jiayin, founder of the Evergrande real estate giant, has also recently been sentenced to life imprisonment.
A LOOK AT…
The Man Who Turned BAIC into a Giant
Xu Heyi was appointed president of Beijing Automotive Group (BAIC Group) in 2006, after joining the company in 2002. Under his leadership, the Asian firm pushed its expansion largely thanks to deals with international giants such as Hyundai and Mercedes-Benz through its Chinese subsidiaries. This allowed BAIC to gain a foothold in the domestic market through manufacturing and marketing agreements for vehicles from these brands, but also to increase its presence beyond China.
Among the milestones of the Chinese conglomerate’s international partnerships stands the 2019 deal with Daimler, acquiring a 5% stake in the German company. In 2021, BAIC already controlled 9.98% of Mercedes-Benz’s shares, making the Chinese group its largest shareholder. Or within China, the alliance with Xiaomi, key to the production of the SU7, the tech company’s successful electric vehicle.
The arrival of Xu propelled BAIC. When he took the helm, the brand hovered around annual sales of about 680,000 vehicles and revenue of 58.7 billion yuan (at current exchange rates, around 7.7 billion euros). In 2019, a year before stepping down, BAIC recorded 2.26 million cars sold and revenue of 501,230 million yuan (about 66,000 million today). That year, its exports exceeded 77,000 units.
The legacy of the executive, after nearly 14 years at BAIC’s helm and with Jiang Deyi as his successor, is now overshadowed by corruption. BAIC markets in Spain two models: the BAIC X55 and the BAIC X75, both gasoline SUVs that start at €27,500 and €29,995, respectively.
Images | BAIC
