Reporter Yang Rangchen, Guo Yangchen and Quartz Jing report from Shanghai.
At the beginning of the Year of the Dragon, the new luxury force Gaohe Automobile has reached the "edge of the cliff" of suspension of production.
On the first working day after the Spring Festival, Gaohe Automobile was revealed to be suspended for 6 months. In this regard, the relevant person in charge of Gaohe Automobile told the reporter of "China Business News" that the above situation is not true.
Although the company denied it, a number of employees and businessmen of Gaohe Automobile told reporters in interviews that the company has indeed been in the multiple predicaments of layoffs, salary cuts, work stoppages, and production stoppages.
An employee who joined the sales of Gaohe Automobile's store in Guangzhou told reporters that he joined Gaohe Automobile in December 2023 and his salary in December was paid normally, but so far, Gaohe Automobile has not paid his salary normally. Another employee who works at Gaohe Automobile's Yancheng plant told reporters that the six-month shutdown and the delay in the payment of wages were indeed a problem.
According to the data, Gaohe Automobile was established in 2017, with a product price of more than 30 yuan to more than 60 yuan, focusing on the high-end automobile brand track, and began to deliver the first product in 2021, with a cumulative sales volume of 4,237 vehicles in 2021. According to the latest data from the China Passenger Car Association, in December 2023, the wholesale sales of new energy vehicles of Gaohe Automobile will only be in the triple digits, at 564 units.
On February 22, 2024, Ding Lei, the founder of Gaohe Automobile, appeared at the Shanghai headquarters of Gaohe Automobile for the first time after the turmoil at the beginning of the Year of the Dragon and participated in an internal meeting. Ding Lei said that Gaohe Automobile will use 3 months to save itself.
From layoffs to layoffs and production stoppages
On February 18, it was revealed that Gaohe Automobile would suspend production for 6 months, and Zhao Ping (pseudonym), who works at Gaohe Automobile's Yancheng factory, confirmed this to reporters on the same day. "At the beginning of the message, there was no written announcement, it was a verbal announcement of the team group. Zhao Ping said.
The reporter learned from the interview that the salary of Gaohe Automobile's Yancheng plant in January 2024 will be paid at the end of February; From February 1 to 18, wages will be paid normally, but the payment date is to be determined; From February 18 to March 18, only the basic salary, which is 70% of the employee's salary, will be paid; After March 18, the basic living allowance will be paid according to the regional minimum guarantee. Employees who are in a hurry to pay social security need to go through the resignation procedures before February 25.
Gaohe Automobile has been in turmoil for a long time. As early as October 2023, Gaohe Automobile launched large-scale layoffs in Shanghai, Qingdao, Yancheng and other places, and the employees who were laid off at first could still get "N+1" compensation, but after entering November, it turned into violent unilateral layoffs.
In addition to the shutdown and forced resignation of employees, many first-class merchants have also been owed by Gaohe Automobile. "The case against Gaohe Automobile is still in the pipeline, and it has been waiting for eight months. Li Dong (pseudonym), whose company is located in Beijing, has been cooperating with Gaohe Automobile since 2021, and has been in arrears since March 2023, totaling less than 200,000 yuan.
Due to the constant change of business leaders related to Gaohe Automobile, I can only connect with the purchasing staff. They said that they could only rush the finance department, and that the method and timing of the payment were uncertain. As a last resort, our company chose to resort to the courts. Li Dong said with emotion.
What happened to Li Dong is just the tip of the iceberg. In 2022, Wang Lei's (pseudonym) advertising company is responsible for the advertising of Gaohe Automobile in Hefei, Wuhan, Changsha and other cities**, but since the second half of that year, Gaohe Automobile has begun to owe money, and the cooperation payment of 200,000 yuan is still 80,000 yuan unpaid.
At the beginning, we cooperated with Gaohe Automobile because we valued its high-end brand image. Although Gaohe Auto focuses on high-end luxury tracks, it does not behave in a way that matches the luxury brand. Wang Lei bluntly said that the marketing expenses of Gaohe Automobile are very low, and many times the best business has to pay in advance, and Gaohe Automobile has been prevaricating and delaying on the grounds of lack of materials, going through the process, and queuing up. "The person in charge of the docking Gaohe Automobile has also changed very frequently, and often leaves without contact for a period of time, and now there is no docking person. ”
Stores in many places have been closed one after another
Li Qing (pseudonym) has been in charge of store sales at Gaohe Automobile for three years, moving from the first offline store in Hubin Road, Xintiandi, Shanghai, in the heart of the city, and then moving to Ruihong Tiandi Sun Palace with the store. She is quite dedicated, and on average, she will post a circle of friends about Gaohe Automobile in two or three days, and finally the last message will be recorded on January 4, 2024.
At the beginning of February, when the reporter visited the Sun Palace of Ruihong Tiandi, it was found that the store of Gaohe Automobile in the mall was closed, and a notice board was erected outside the store with the words "internal debugging" on the billboard. "The Ruihong Tiandi Sun Palace store has been temporarily closed, and now it is impossible to book a car or trade. The company said it would wait 6 months. If it is restored, I will notify as soon as possible. Li Qing said.
The Nantong MixC Experience Store is its only store in Nantong City, Jiangsu Province, and has been open for more than two years. At 7 p.m. on February 21, the reporter visited and found that the experience store was deserted, with 2 exhibition cars, no customers, and only 1 staff member on duty.
The above-mentioned staff said that at present, the Nantong MixC experience store is operating normally, with 5 sales staff, 2 managers and 1 anchor, and after-sales service such as door-to-door maintenance is also provided normally, but because the factory has stopped production, it is temporarily impossible to place an order for new cars.
The previous Hiphi X show cars were sold during the Spring Festival holiday, and a Hiphi X test drive was temporarily transferred from Zhejiang Province today. Another show car, Hiphi Y, has just arrived in the store for two months, and it is still normal**, but due to the lack of accessories in the factory before, intelligent driving cannot be used without installing lidar, so there is a discount of less than 20,000 yuan. The above-mentioned staff member further explained.
In addition, the reporter noticed that Guangzhou Gaode Land Plaza also issued an announcement saying that Gaohe Automobile was unable to operate in the mall due to internal reasons of the brand. "The store unilaterally closed the store without performing its obligations in accordance with the terms of the lease contract, before the lease contract expired, without informing the mall in advance as agreed, and without reaching an agreement between the two parties, which seriously damaged the legitimate rights and interests of the mall and consumers. In response, Gaohe Automobile said: "The above-mentioned store closure belongs to internal commissioning. ”
Backed by Sulu and two places**
As an emerging track, new energy vehicle related industries have become the "sweet and sweet" in the eyes of local governments, and Yancheng, Jiangsu, Qingdao, Shandong and other places have successively provided a lot of financial support for Gaohe Automobile and its parent company, Human Horizons.
Fast forward to February 3, 2019, Yancheng Economic and Technological Development Zone has established a total investment of 3 billion yuan in the new energy vehicle industry for Human Horizons. On June 15 of the same year, Human Horizons reached a strategic cooperation with Yueda Group and Dongfeng Yueda Kia in industrialization.
In 2021, Zhengcheng Dongfeng Yueda Kia adjusted its production capacity, and its first plant in Yancheng City was upgraded and leased to Human Horizons, the parent company of Gaohe Automobile, in the form of a "long-term lease" to produce Gaohe Automobile. To this end, Jiangsu Yueda Automobile Group and Human Horizons jointly established Human Horizons (Jiangsu) Technology Co., Ltd., accounting for 20% and 80% of the shares respectively.
Yancheng City has publicly stated that Human Horizons, the parent company of Gaohe Automobile, is an important new force in Yancheng City to accelerate the development of the new energy automobile industry. Since the company settled in Yancheng, it has always benchmarked against the world's most advanced car manufacturers and is committed to creating global high-end new energy electric vehicle products. ”
A Yancheng Economic Development Zone told reporters that in recent years, Yancheng has been vigorously developing new energy vehicles and core components, and is also one of the "5 + 2" strategic emerging industries, and has established Yancheng New Energy Automobile Industrial Park in the Economic Development Zone, which is also the first professional park in Jiangsu Province with new energy vehicles as the theme, hoping to promote industrial transformation and development, and Human Horizons can be regarded as one of the "signboards".
In January 2022, Human Horizons went north to Qingdao again. On January 17 of that year, Human Horizons announced that the company officially signed a cooperation agreement with Qingdao City, including the establishment of a Chinese headquarters in Qingdao and the establishment of Gaohe Automobile Sales and Service Corporation to build a world-class R&D technology center for the world.
According to the official information of Qingdao Urban Investment Group, as early as January 2021, the group invested 13800 million yuan, participated in the overseas equity investment of Human Horizons, and promoted the project of Human Horizons Gaohe Automobile Headquarters and Vehicle Production Base to officially settle in Laixi City, Qingdao, Shandong.
Qingdao Urban Investment Group has said that Gaohe Automobile's project in Qingdao has filled the gap in Qingdao's new energy vehicle headquarters, R&D and high-end automobile brands, and introduced industrial leaders for the development of Laixi's new energy automobile industry. "In 2023, the construction of the new energy auto parts smart industry base project will be launched, and a thousand-acre industrial park will be built in the future. ”
In addition to local **, Human Horizons is also seeking overseas capital. In 2023, Human Horizons signed an investment agreement worth about 40 billion yuan with Saudi Arabia to establish a joint venture engaged in vehicle research and development, manufacturing and sales, but there has been no progress in updating financing.
Jiang Han, a senior researcher at Pangu Think Tank, believes that due to the long return on investment cycle, even if it receives large amounts of financing such as Saudi Arabia's investment, how to effectively use these funds to achieve sustainable development and gain a firm foothold in the fierce market competition is the core issue that every new car company must face.
In the new energy vehicle industry, the rapid launch of new cars, seizing market share, and pursuing profits have become the common survival rules of new power enterprises. Not only do they have to compete with traditional auto giants, but they also have to compete with the emerging new entrants. Once the key development opportunity is missed, it may lead to the backwardness of the enterprise in the market position, and even face the risk of elimination. Therefore, it is necessary to enlist more support in the capital market to maintain a continuous flow of funds. Jiang Han added.