On February 18, on the first day of construction after the Chinese New Year, Gaohe Automobile announced that it would suspend production for six months, during which time operations also came to a standstill. An employee of Gaohe Automobile said that until February 18, the store of Gaohe Automobile was still open, but since February, it has been unable to sell vehicles because it cannot place orders in the system, and Gaohe Automobile has owed employees two months' salaries. In a notice issued on the 18th, Gaohe Automobile announced that from 30 days before February 18, 70% of the basic salary and social security will be paid to employees in accordance with the contract, and the salary before the 18th will be paid in full; After 30 days, the salary will be paid according to the minimum living expenses (refer to the minimum standard of the city where the social security is located, 2,690 yuan in Shanghai). At the same time, the employee's social security has been paid in January, but the provident fund has not been paid, and only social security will be paid in the future. At the same time, Gaohe Automobile also claimed that the follow-up funding has not yet been clarified. In the notice, Gaohe Automobile called on employees to quickly save themselves, prepare to renew social security payments, and complete the termination of the contract. Starting from February 19, Gaohe Automobile requires all employees not to enter the company in principle, and they need to report before entering, and the relevant reporting process will be announced one after another. 
Poor sales have a long history of financial problemsAn internal employee said that Gaohe Auto's financial problems have been going on for some time, and now there should be no money in the account. A store manager of Gaohe Automobile said that they received a verbal notice on the evening of February 18, "to the effect that Gaohe Automobile will maintain low-power operation, and this store has paid rent normally, but store employees can be allowed to find their own way out." The issue of unpaid wages has not been resolved, and we are already in arrears for two months' salaries and bonuses. Even so, on February 19, the owner of the store managed by the store manager was still in place as normal. He told the power plant that after receiving the information on February 18, their mood has not calmed down, but the common concern is that if they do not work normally, they may be fired for absenteeism and other reasons, and they will not be able to get back the salary arrears. Therefore, even if there is no car to sell, normal attendance is maintained. A person from Gaohe Auto ** said that from 2023, Gaohe will make payments slower and slower, and the delay in payment in the second half of the year will be more common, and it will be impossible to pay in the fourth quarter, so they will also suspend the payment to Gaohe Auto ** products and seek to protect their rights through legal channels. "I heard that they are still looking for financing, and I don't know what the next situation will be. He said. At the end of 2023, representatives of a number of ** businessmen gathered at the gate of a park in Shanghai to defend their rights, demanding that Gaohe Automobile pay off the arrears as soon as possible. The above-mentioned businessmen said that the people who went to pull banners to defend their rights were basically some small and medium-sized businessmen. "A big company like Bosch has cut off supply since last year, which is why Gaohe Automobile had to stop production because there are no key parts. A person who has worked with Gaohe in marketing said that they felt that there might be problems with Gaohe Auto at the beginning of 2023, because their cooperation fee had been owed by Gaohe Auto for half a year at that time, and then they kept urging Gaohe Auto to pay, and finally got the cooperation fee back in the second half of 2023. In June 2023, the Saudi Ministry of Investment and Human Horizons signed a contract worth 21 billion Saudi riyals (about 399$2.9 billion) to establish a joint venture to engage in R&D, manufacturing and sales of automobiles. In November, Bloomberg reported that Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth, Saudi Public Investment (PIF), was in talks to invest at least 2 percent in Chinese electric vehicle maker Human Horizons$500 million. At the same time, PIF may buy a stake in the company at a valuation of $3 billion. These capital market benefits have no follow-up. An investor who has paid attention to the automotive industry said that it will be difficult for new energy vehicle startups to raise money in China in 2021, because their ** is really too high, limited by the objective environment, and there is no hope for capital in Europe and the United States. "Gaohe Automobile wants to be a luxury new energy brand, and there is no good prospect in the Chinese market for the time being, and they also lack results in intelligence and do not have their own core advantages. An insider of Gaohe Automobile said that in 2023, the operation of Gaohe Automobile will be more difficult, the delivery volume will not achieve rapid growth, the investment of Saudi Arabia will not follow, the listing plan will also be shelved, and the capital chain will be tight. In October 2023, Gaohe Automobile began to lay off employees and reduce expenses, with the overall layoff ratio approaching 20%, and some departments with large expenditures even laid off more than half of their employees, such as the Internet of Vehicles department. Entering 2024, Gaohe Automobile has cancelled various employee benefits and subsidies, and even stopped paying supplementary medical insurance. At a staff meeting before the Spring Festival, Gaohe Automobile informed employees that the year-end bonus for 2023 had been cancelled and the holiday had been given in advance. However, these measures did not alleviate the financial constraints of Gaohe Automobile. An employee who has worked for Gaohe for more than three years said that the fundamental problem of Gaohe Auto's funding is that its sales are too low, and even if it launches low-cost models, sales still do not improve. Especially in 2023, the competition in the automotive industry is too fierce, and Gaohe Automobile has no preparation and resistance. Founded in 2017, Gaohe Automobile aims to be in the high-end luxury market of 600,000 to 800,000 yuan, and among the three models currently on sale, Hiphi Z and Hiphi X are in this ** range, but sales are not good, in 2021 and 2022, Gaohe Automobile sold 4,237 and 4,349 units respectively. 
In order to boost sales, in July 2023, the Hiphi Y was launched, which is also the cheapest model of the HiPhi Automobile. Official data shows that from August to October 2023, HiPhi Y delivered 1,021, 1,556, and 1,606 units, respectively. However, the total sales of Gaohe Automobile have not improved. According to the statistics of Pacific Automobile Network, Gaohe Automobile will sell a total of 4,829 cars in 2023, ranking 97th among domestic auto brands. Among them, 226 units of HiPhi X were sold, 429 units of HiPhi Z were sold, and 4,174 units of HiPhi Y were sold. It can be seen that in the last two months of 2023, the delivery of Hiphi Y has been affected by the instability of the ** chain, and it has not contributed more sales to HiPhi Automobile. As a result, Hi-Hop Automobile has adjusted its sales channels to reduce sales costs and improve efficiency. In 2024, Gaohe Automobile will also launch the "Galaxy Plan", which is mainly to optimize the layout of brand channels, adjust or close some supermarket experience centers with low operating efficiency and poor user experience. At the same time, some user experience centers with only sales functions will be upgraded to user centers with sales, delivery and service functions in the same city. According to official information, in 2024, Gaohe Automobile and its partners will open five "cooperative direct" stores in Macau, Hefei, Ningbo and Xuzhou. 
Ding Lei's car dream was blocked againDing Lei, the founder of Gaohe Automobile, is a veteran with rich experience in the automotive industry. After graduating with a master's degree in 1988, he joined SAIC Volkswagen, and in his 23-year career at SAIC Volkswagen-SAIC-GM, he grew from a grassroots employee to vice president of SAIC Group and general manager of SAIC-GM. In 2011, he left SAIC-GM because he was transferred to Zhangjiang Hi-Tech, and Dan Ackerson, then CEO of GM, also made a photo frame for him, full of paper full of Ding Lei's achievements in managing Shanghai GM in the past six years. In August 2013, Ding Lei became the deputy mayor of Pudong New Area, Shanghai, where he participated in the introduction of Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory project. At the invitation of Jia Yueting, Ding Lei resigned from public office in July 2015 and joined LeEco Group two months later as co-founder, global vice chairman, and CEO of China and Asia-Pacific for LeEco Super Auto. With LeEco's financial problems, he also left in March 2017, and founded Human Horizons in December of that year, that is, the parent company of Gaohe Automobile, and the investors behind it include Man Jinghua, who has a close relationship with SAIC and started as a car dealership, ** capital represented by Yancheng City, industrial capital represented by Dongfeng Yueda Kia and capital with state-owned background such as China Insurance Investment. Leaving at the stage of SAIC-GM's momentum, to joining LeTV Automobile and encountering Waterloo, to founding Gaohe Automobile to be a benchmark for China's luxury cars, but in the face of funds, Ding Lei's car dream may be blocked again.