Gaohe may become the next Weimar.
On February 18, the first day of construction in 2024, some car companies boosted morale and announced their determination, such as He Xiaopeng, CEO of Xpeng Motors, and Gan Jiayue, CEO of Geely Automobile Group, respectively issued a letter of commencement for all employees; Some have reported the news of suspension of production, such as Gaohe Automobile, which said that Gaohe Automobile held an internal meeting and announced that it would suspend work and production for 6 months from now on.
In this regard, Qingcheng Automobile asked Gaohe Automobile for verification, and the other party only said that it was "not true" and did not explain anything else. It is understood that the local ** shareholders have requested Gaohe Automobile not to disclose the suspension information to the outside for the time being.
Although Gaohe denied it, insiders close to Gaohe Automobile revealed, "At the staff meeting on February 7, Gaohe Automobile announced that the salary in January would be postponed, the year-end bonus would be cancelled, and all employees would be reduced in salary." This time, Gaohe Auto told employees that their wages 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 are paid only the basic salary, according to the regional minimum guarantee. ”
In fact, the news about the shutdown of Gaohe Automobile, the reduction of staff and salaries was circulated in the industry as early as January 2024. A netizen suspected of being a ** businessman posted that "all work of Gaohe has been suspended, including stopping shipments, stopping the development of new projects, and preparing for prosecution".
At that time, Gaohe Automobile issued a statement through social platforms, saying, "The company's operation is normal, and the work of R&D, production, marketing, and delivery is progressing normally." ”
Shortly after Gaohe Auto issued the above statement, some netizens posted that the Gaohe stores located in Guangzhou Gaode Land Winter Plaza and Taikoo Li in Chengdu, Sichuan Province have been withdrawn, and the withdrawal dates are January 23 and January 29 respectively, and the reason for the withdrawal is that "due to internal reasons of the brand, it is no longer able to continue to operate in the mall".
Not only that, at present, the top business of Gaohe Automobile is collectively collecting debts. According to Qingcheng Automobile, an advertising and media company in Shandong Province has been defending its rights against Gaohe Automobile since February this year, and before that, the company has cooperated with Gaohe Automobile for two years, with a cooperation amount of millions.
It is understood that after several times of communication with Gaohe to no avail, the company has gone to court with Gaohe Automobile.
According to public information, Gaohe Automobile is a luxury intelligent electric vehicle brand under Human Horizons, which was established in August 2017; Subsequently, it acquired Dongfeng Yueda Kia's first plant in Yancheng, and successively launched four models: HiPhi X, HiPhi Z, HiPhi Y, and HiPhi A.
Among them, the first three models have been officially launched, and the HiPhi A has only been unveiled and has not yet been officially launched. In terms of price, the Hiphi X and Hiphi Z are both priced at more than 500,000 yuan, and the Hiphi Y starts at 3390,000 yuan. Due to the high price and low popularity of Gaohe electric vehicles, the market presence of Gaohe Automobile is not strong.
According to relevant data, sales in 2021 and 2022 will be about 4,200 and 4,500 units, respectively, and sales will increase to more than 8,000 units in 2023, but they will not exceed 10,000 units.
In terms of financing, Human Horizons, the parent company of Hi-Hop Automobile, signed a $5.6 billion agreement with the Saudi Ministry of Investment in June last year. This is the largest investment agreement since the establishment of Gaohe Automobile, and it is also the largest financing in the history of China's new energy vehicle company.
According to the agreement, the two companies plan to establish a joint venture in Saudi Arabia to engage in automotive-related research and development, manufacturing and sales.
Regarding whether Saudi Arabia's public investment ** and Gaohe Automobile can reach cooperation, some industry insiders pointed out that "Saudi Arabia's investment in China's new car-making force is not only Human Horizons." Earlier, Tianji Automobile also entered the Saudi market, but there has been no progress so far. The details of the cooperation between Saudi Arabia and Human Horizons have not been confirmed, and there are still many uncertainties in the cooperation. ”
It is reported that the details of the terms are still being finalized, and the two sides have not yet made a final decision.
It is worth noting that on the same day that the news of Gaohe's shutdown was announced, He Xiaopeng, chairman of Xpeng Motors, mentioned in an internal letter that "2024 is the first year for Chinese auto brands to enter the 'sea of blood' competition, that is, the first year of the knockout competition."
Undoubtedly, the news of the shutdown of Gaohe Automobile has added a bit of tragic atmosphere to the new energy vehicle market in 2024. Gao He, or it is difficult to escape the "seven-year itch" of its fate.