Driving with Dunne

Xpeng Motors is one of China's most impressive EV startups. The company was founded in 2014 by billionaire He Xiaopeng. Mr. He sensed an opportunity to bring his expertise in technology and software to the automotive arena. In 2018, Mr He Xiaopeng persuaded Brian Gu to leave his prestigious position as Chairman of JP Morgan Asia Pacific and join Xpeng. Mr. Gu quickly got to work preparing Xpeng for an IPO in New York. Xpeng's market listing in August 2020 generated more than $5 billion in new funding. Mr Gu joins Winning in Asia to share his personal journey from his native Shanghai to school at Yale to work at JP Morgan and Xpeng. He also gives us an inside look at Xpeng today and the company's vision for the future, including ambitions to export Xpeng EVs to markets across the world.

Peter Horbury became one of the first high-profile Western designers to work for a Chinese company when Chairman Li Shufu appointed him to lead the Geely design team in 2011. At that time, Geely's design department consisted of "a small handful of people." Today, Geely designers number in the hundreds and operate in several time zones. Geely is not alone. Companies like Xpeng, NIO, BYD and Great Wall are also building up world-class design teams with operations in Europe and the United States. Inside China, several hundred western-trained car designers are working at Chinese private and state-owned enterprises. In this episode, Peter Horbury shares the story of how Geely came to embrace design as a key differentiator. Peter also describes how quickly Chinese firms have narrowed the gap with global companies on design and quality.

Chery Automobile is China's perennial leader in car exports, shipping to more than 70 markets worldwide. Now there are mounting rumors that Chery plans to crack the US market under the VANTAS brand name in 2021. After delivering some background on Chery, Michael Dunne gathers with Ray Bierzynski, Executive Vice President. Chery Automobile to talk about product, manufacturing quality, jumping dinosaurs and what it is like to be one of a handful of Americans living in Wuhu, a city of 4 million.

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Our guest Reilly Brennan is co-founder of Trucks Venture Capital, a highly respected outfit based in San Francisco that invests in future technologies for the transportation industry. Trucks VC investments in autonomous vehicle technologies have proven exceptionally strong, including early round placements in Nutonomy, Nauto, Cruise, DeepScale and May Mobility and others. In this episode, we ask Reilly for his perspective on when robotaxis will become a widespread reality, which companies are leading the industry and why Tesla seems to be zigging when everyone else is zagging.

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Paul French is a British entrepreneur and prolific author of several books on business and crime with 30 years experience in China. In this episode Paul and I talk about how iconic American businessman, Carl Crow, taught us all the lessons we need to know about China business in his book, 400 Million Customers. Crow''s best-seller was published in 1937 but its lessons are more relevant than ever. Paul shares the real experiences of global companies that started out with sky-high expectations but ended in roadside ditches. What went wrong?

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Ken Wilcox, former CEO of the Silicon Valley Bank and current Chairman of the Asia Society of Northern California has written a compelling and highly practical new book called Leading Through Culture: How Real Leaders Create Cultures That Motivate People To Achieve Great Things. Ken puts his book's principles to the test when he finds himself running a 50-50 joint venture bank in China. He discovers that American and Chinese business cultures, communication styles and visions are vastly different. American leaders inspire by painting a picture of the future where the company "wins". Chinese inspire by telling their employees about a path to personal enrichment. Chinese leaders prefer ambiguity and spontaneity. Americans want planning and precision. Enjoy Ken's war stories from the front and the delightful color commentary from Coco Kee who is intimately familiar with both sides of the Pacific (born in Fujian, educated at Peking University and now a New Yorker).

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Hyundai was founded 53 years ago in Seoul, South Korea. Its first product was the Ford Cortina. Today, the Hyundai Group is the 4th largest vehicle manufacturer of the planet, behind only Toyota, Volkswagen and the Renault-Nissan-Mitsubishi Alliance. How has Hyundai found a way to compete and win against much larger rivals, like Ford and GM? How has the company learned to build such high quality vehicles after early stumbles? And where does the company's new Chairman, Eui-sun Chung, plan to take the company from here?

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Shanghai has arguably served as the central intersection between China and the West over the past 160 years. So, at a time of heightened tensions between China and the US, Australia, and the UK, what can we learn from Shanghai history? Author James Carter takes us to the Shanghai Race Club in late 1941 for the bi-annual flagship horse race, Champions Day. Carter gives us an up close look at power, money, and business among people from different cultures and conflicting ambitions. Will there be another Champions Day saga in our near future?

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Andee Yoestong is one of the most entrepreneurial and street smart business people in the Indonesian auto market. His company sells and services Japanese, Chinese and American brands across Indonesia, the world's 4th most populous country. Japanese automakers have enjoyed a near monopoly in Indonesia since the 1970's. But today the Chinese and Koreans are planning to shake things up with new investment in electrics. There are also rumors that Ford is coming back. Technology is changing the way Indonesian buy cars, too, and could soon make showrooms a relic of the past. Mr. Yoestong paints a picture of the fast-evolving Indonesian car market as customers start to embrace technology, electrics and non-Japanese brands.

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James McGregor is author of One Billion Customers, the most important and widely read China business book of this generation. In our conversation, Mr McGregor describes why China under Xi Jinping is overreaching politically and economically. How should US companies respond to China's new aggressiveness? Mr McGregor also shares some valuable tips for US companies doing business in China. What are the most obvious landmines to avoid? And what are the new opportunities to capture? Most importantly, Mr McGregor paints a picture of how US companies can leverage their market access in China to strengthen their businesses back home.

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