(Yicai) Sept. 1 -- FAW Group has promoted the general manager of the major Chinese state-owned carmaker to chairman.

GM Qiu Xiandong succeeded Xu Liuping, who stepped down as chairman in March, the Changchun-based firm said late yesterday after a general management meeting, without naming a new GM.

FAW appointed Qiu as deputy GM in 2017 before promoting him to GM in July 2020. He has been comprehensively managing the company since Xu’s exit.

Qiu, 53, spent the early days of his career at leading Chinese carmaker Dongfeng Motor and its subsidiaries. He served as the GM of Dongfeng Peugeot Citroen Automobile, a joint venture between Dongfeng and France’s Peugeot, where he worked from 2001 to 2016.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Martin Kadiev