Gaohe Automobile, which once focused on high-end luxury independent new energy vehicle brands, reported the bad news of a six-month shutdown in the first "start day" of the Year of the Dragon.
It is reported that on February 18 this year, the first Spring Festival holiday after the resumption of work, Gaohe Automobile held an internal meeting and announced that it would suspend work and production for 6 months from now on. According to insiders, Gaohe Automobile said that the wages of employees before February 18 will be paid as usual; Employees who remained in Gaohe Automobile before March 15 will only be paid basic salary; After March 15, employees will only be paid their Shanghai basic salary. Up to now, Gaohe has not publicly stated any confirmation news, but combined with the negative news such as delayed wages, salary cuts, layoffs and production shutdowns that have been repeatedly reported by Gaohe Automobile, Gaohe Automobile has indeed fallen into business difficulties, which can be described as "internal and external troubles".
In order to have a more realistic understanding of the current business status and sales situation of Gaohe Automobile, "Auto Talk" consulted some sales staff of Gaohe Automobile and visited the Gaohe Automobile Experience Center in Beijing.
Gaohe Automobile's online sales tend to stagnate
In fact, as early as before the Spring Festival in the Year of the Dragon, some netizens broke the news that there was a problem with the after-sales service of Gaohe Automobile first, and the official 400** was unanswered. After actual verification, the current situation of Gaohe Automobile 400-8171188** is indeed unanswered, and both pre-sales and after-sales services are busy.
In order to further verify the online sales status of Gaohe Automobile, "Auto Talk" also contacted 2 online sales staff of Beijing Gaohe Automobile from the automobile vertical media**, and the reply was that one person left and one person took leave. In addition, the furloughed sales officer has not returned to work after the year, and is unsure whether his store is still open for business.
In addition, the sales staff of Gaohe Automobile also stated that at present, Gaohe Automobile has basically been in a state of suspension, and the store has not had a new car arrive in the store for a long time, and the main business of the store will become the sale of inventory vehicles and test drive vehicles by the end of 2023.
Gaohe Automobile's offline stores are struggling to insist
In addition to the online consultation, we also visited the sales of the offline stores of Gaohe Automobile.
In view of the fact that a large number of Gaohe automobile experience centers or sales stores were withdrawn from the network before, two Gaohe automobile experience centers in Beijing were randomly selected for on-site visits. The two stores visited by Gaohe Automobile are currently in normal business condition, and the stores have displayed three models of Hiphi X, Y and Z, and all of them can provide test ride and test drive services normally, but each store only has 2-3 service personnel, and the customer flow is not much.
According to the communication with the sales staff, although Gaohe Automobile has not officially announced the news of the suspension of work for 6 months, it has basically confirmed the authenticity of the news internally. According to the sales introduction, the current car booking is still from the Gaohe Automobile APP, but it is recommended that users check the internal inventory first, confirm that there is a stock of the car before placing an order, otherwise it is likely that the delivery will not be completed in time due to the shutdown.
In terms of vehicle price, if the user is buying a new car, there is no price discount except for some official rights. However, the sales also reminded that there are currently some test drives and show cars on sale in the store, among which Hiphi X and Z have a large discount of 5-7% due to the longer time of the model on the market, more test drives and show cars, and Hiphi Y due to the short time on the market, the store basically only provides new car sales.
The reason why it is said that Gaohe Automobile stores are struggling to support is that in fact, one or two can be found in the communication with sales. First of all, the sales staff of Gaohe Automobile have received the news of the shutdown, so the enthusiasm for sales is obviously insufficient. In the process of communication, sales will also reveal a trace of uncertainty about the future of Gaohe Automobile. In addition, it was learned from the communication of a store sales that although the store is still operating normally, it is likely that it will not be able to continue to renew the lease after the rent expires this year, and the store will likely be forced to evacuate at that time.
A large number of high-compliance new used cars entered the market
On the issue of test driving and show car sales of Gaohe Automobile, clues can also be seen in the mainstream second-hand car transactions on the Internet. Recently, a large number of Hiphi X and Z models with 2021 and 2023 licenses have suddenly been launched on used cars**.
As can be seen from the screenshot, the original price is 67The 30,000 yuan 2022 HiPhi X has only traveled 800 kilometers, and the used car** only costs 3260,000 yuan, nearly 50% cut in half. It is not difficult to speculate that this approved new used car is very likely to be Gaohe's own test drive or show car.
It can be seen that the listing information on the second-hand car ** coincides with the words of the store sales staff, with the suspension of production after the suspension of production, a large number of high-end test drives and show cars poured into the second-hand car market, which greatly reduced the value retention rate of the high-end car, although part of the funds can be returned, but it is undoubtedly a "bolt from the blue" for the owners of the high-end car, which also greatly damages the luxury reputation of the high-end automobile has always been the main focus.
In fact, from the second half of 2023, the negative news of Gaohe Automobile has been repeatedly reported, although Gaohe Automobile officials have also refuted the rumors, but from the analysis of the sales volume of Gaohe Automobile, the prospects of Gaohe Automobile are not optimistic. As a car company, if you want to survive, sales are the main artery, but Gaohe Automobile's performance of 4,829 vehicles in 2023 will definitely not be able to support the survival and development of a car company. Through this online and offline visit, it is further verified that Gaohe Automobile is indeed in a great crisis, if Gaohe Automobile does not want to become the second Weimar, it must immediately take practical actions, otherwise there is really not much time left for Gaohe Automobile.