ChinaAutoWeb - The newly appointed CEO of Volkswagen Group China ran into a major PR crisis last week after veteran automotive journalist Li Anding published on November 28 a blog titled "Volkswagen's 'PR gate' – a memo for Heizmann."
In his blog on sina.com.cn, Li claimed that Heizmann's decision to let Peter Thul, communications director of brand and product in Wolfsburg, take over the China PR was a "major failure."
Li alleged that "the wheels of VW China PR in the past four months have been controlled by Thul and his 'girlfriend' — a Shanghai lady who used to work at Audi China but has gone to Germany with him, leaving her husband and child behind….. These two people have acted willfully, making key decisions on the selection of media representatives for interviewing Heizmann, recommendation of the new PR director of Volkswagen Group China, and selection of VW China's new PR agency."
Li's blog created an immediate uproar among local automotive journalists who republished the blog in newspapers and leading automotive internet portals, including xinhuanet.com run by the official Xinhua News Agency where Li had worked all his life before retirement.
The blog came just as VW China's dispute with consumers about the company's alleged DSG problems had quieted down when Wolfsburg replaced Karl-Thomas Neumann with Jochem Heizmann as VW China's CEO and VW China's communications director Molly Yang was removed from her position.
It came also when Volkswagen and partner FAW had been tangled over the spat of whether FAW had infringed on VW's engine and transmission technologies (see "Behind VW's claim of FAW infringement," p. 1, CAR, December 2012).
The German automaker denied these allegations on November 29, the day when it reached an agreement with FAW to extend the FAW-VW JV beyond the expiration date in 2016. VW declared in a statement to the media that neither of its venture partners had infringed on one another's rights in the past years.
On that very day at 9:40 am Li received a phone call from Ma Jinghua, a VW China senior PR executive as he was driving to the airport for Shanghai. "VW Group PR director Thul wanted me to tell you that he is very angry in seeing your article published on the internet and in the newspapers. Your allegations are not only false but also an insult to him. He would initiate a law suit," Li quoted Ma as saying in his weibo, or microblog.
After an intensive exchange of emails, weibo, phone calls, test messages and home visits over the next 48 hours between VW and Li, VW China PR department released the following official weibo on December 1: "Contrary to internet hearsays, VW Group China hereby formally announces that it would not initiate legal proceedings against Mr. Li Anding. Thanks for your support and interest."
On the same day Li received a text message from Thul via Ma Jinghua, which reads according to Li's weibo: "I do not have plans now to use any legal means or initiate a law suit against Mr. Li Anding. I am willing to have a constructive meeting and discussion with Mr. Li."
While it is debatable as to the appropriateness of Li Anding's blog in terms of journalistic practice and VW's responses, the Li vs. VW encounter indicates that multinational automakers operating in China can hardly ignore the different kind of media and PR environment and relationships. They are also constrained in what they can do with their state-owned partners that are owned by the government.
Li wrote in his blog that "any move that overlooks the sentiments of Chinese consumers and its partners in China could be catastrophic for Volkswagen."
