Wang Fengying

With the Chinese auto industry in general decline, Wang has a tricky job steering one of China’s leading car manufacturers forward. The Hong Kong-listed automaker managed 4% profit growth last year, but at the expense of cutting R&D expenses by half. In the first half of this year, profits at GWM dropped 59% to $222 million while revenues fell 16%. Yet Wang is pushing GWM overseas, with a factory under development in Russia, a subsidiary setting up in India, and plans—perhaps postponed by the trade war—to open another unit in North America. “For Great Wall Motor, the main battlefield is the global market,” Wang told China Daily, echoing the militaristic corporate culture that has helped GWM hold its own in a domestic market dominated by state-owned companies.

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