Analysis: Comparing salaries of CEOs from Chinese and western manufacturers

Gasgoo.com (Shanghai) - According to statistics compiled by Gasgoo.com (Chinese), the 2010 salaries of CEOs of major European and US enterprises – Ford, GM, VW, Daimler, BMW, Fiat, PSA and Renault – are much higher than those of their Chinese counterparts.

The salaries of Renault CEO Carlos Ghosn and GM CEO Dan Akerson were the lowest at $2.53 million and $1.72 million, respectively. Those figures are still much higher than the Chinese industry average.

Fiat CEO Sergio Marchionne's salary last year of $4.99 million fell in the middle of the rankings. When compared with the 570,000 yuan ($88,861) CEO salary of Chinese truck maker Jinbei, which fell in the middle of the Chinese ranking charts, the difference between the Chinese and Western markets is quite stark.

Chinese enterprises

Of the Chinese presidents and CEOs whose salaries were recorded, only seven of them earned more than 1 million yuan ($155,897) last year. Wang Chuanfu, board chairman and president of BYD, earned 4.02 million yuan ($626,705) without retirement or other cash bonuses. While Mr. Wang did earn some bonuses outside of his wages, he alongside the President of Geely Gui Shengyue was the only Chinese CEOs in the study who had cash benefits last year. Mr. Gui's cash bonuses totaled 1.68 million yuan ($262,374).

The other Chinese enterprises whose CEOs earned over 1 million last year were: Foton (1.99m yuan, $309,455), Geely (1.68m yuan, $262,374), King Long (1.33 yuan, $206,563), Yutong (1.3m yuan, $202.666) and GAC (1.02m yuan, $159,638).