On February 18, Gaohe Automobile, a shining star in China's new energy vehicle field, announced that it would suspend production for six months and adjust the employee payroll policy. This move caused an uproar in the industry, especially Jia Yueting, the founder of Faraday Future, who has a deep relationship with Gaohe Automobile, not only did not express regret, but publicly accused Gaohe of being a shame for the industry. What is even more concerning is that Faraday Future recently officially filed a lawsuit against the Intermediate People's Court of Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China, over trade secrets, directly targeting Ding Lei, a former executive and founder of Human Horizons and Hi-Hop Automobile.
At the internal meeting held a few days ago, Gaohe Automobile made a shocking decision: suspend production and operation for up to six months from now on. According to internal sources, Gaohe promised to pay employees before February 18 normally during this period; For employees who remain before March 15, only the basic salary will be paid; After March 15, only the basic living allowance wage in Shanghai will be provided. According to the usual practice, Gaohe will pay a unified salary on the 15th of each month.
Subsequently, it was revealed that the Gaohe Automobile Factory had not allowed outsiders to enter, which aroused widespread public concern and speculation about the current situation of Gaohe Automobile. Among them, Jia Yueting, who had in-depth cooperation with Ding Lei in the car-making business, did not show the slightest sympathy in this incident, but bluntly criticized Gaohe Automobile's approach for "tarnishing the entire industry", and his words were full of gunpowder.
Looking back on history, Ding Lei, as the soul of Gaohe Automobile, has rich experience in the automotive industry and has successfully created a number of popular models. In his early years, he was invited by Jia Yueting to join the LeEco Super Car project as a co-founder, global vice chairman and CEO of China and Asia Pacific. However, as problems such as the rupture of LeTV's capital chain surfaced, Jia Yueting was mired in debt, and Ding Lei also chose to leave LeTV after a period of work gap, and led a group of core teams to found Gaohe Automobile.
Dramatically, Faraday Future suddenly announced today that it has filed a lawsuit with the Intermediate People's Court of Shenzhen, Guangdong Province, China, accusing Ding Lei, a former FF executive and founder of Human Horizons and Gaohe Automobile, and his affiliates of infringing on their trade secrets and unfair competition. In the complaint, Faraday Future requested the court to award damages and order Human Horizons to immediately cease using the trade secrets related to FF 91, including but not limited to the design, development, production and sale of the allegedly infringing products, as well as the sale of related products or the provision of after-sales services.
At present, the legal dispute around trade secrets and unfair competition is still fermenting, and the majority of friends who are concerned about the field of new energy vehicles can continue to pay close attention to understand the latest developments of the situation.