(Yicai Global) July 23 -- Major Chinese automaker SAIC Motor's President Chen Zhixin has stepped down and its Vice President Wang Xiaoqiu will succeed him.

Chen, who is also a director, submitted a written resignation from all positions he held in the company to the board of directors, SAIC said in a statement yesterday, adding the board agreed to the chairman's nomination of VP Wang as president by and has named him as a director candidate.

Wang, who is 55 years old, holds a doctorate in engineering. He served as general manager of SAIC General Motors from August 2013 to July 2014. He also has experience as an executive in SAIC's parts and manufacturing units.

Chen became SAIC head in 2014.

Several other executives have also undergone a reshuffle. Yu Jianwei resigned as the company's vice president, and the board agreed to name Wei Yong and Yang Xiaodong as vice presidents and Zu Sijie as vice president and chief engineer.

SAIC's production and sales have fallen sharply amid an overall weakening auto market. The firm made 2.9 million cars in the first half, down 21 percent from a year earlier, and its total sales dropped 17 percent to 2.7 million cars, per its latest production and sales report released early this month. SAIC set its sales target for this year at 7.1 million units in an annual rise of 0.6 percentage points. It has only achieved 41 percent of this goal after half a year has passed, however.

SAIC will apply to issue CNY20 billion (USD2.9 billion) in bonds with a maximum maturity of 10 years in separate batches, mainly to top up liquidity and fund research and development innovation projects, it said in another statement yesterday. 

Editor: Ben Armour