Hycan Auto suddenly collapsed.
Employee public request“Returning hard-earned money”The company is suspected of having a funding problem; another employee revealed that starting next monthUnable to pay wagesexecutives called on employees to find their own way out.
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Another new force is about to fail?
Hycan Automobile's financial crisis
Recently, three people who claimed to be employees of Hycan Auto spoke publicly at the entrance of GAC Center.
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They have only one core demand:Pay back the moneyNot only did it disclose that “Hytronix will not refund the follow-up investment funds of former employees”, it also asked GAC and Zhujiang Investment Management to protect the employees and demanded that Hytronix “return my hard-earned money.”
It is understood that this so-called “follow-up investment” refers to the investment that Hychuang Automobile will implement in batches between 2018 and 2021.Employee Stock Ownership Planforcing more than 50 employees to follow up and invest, with a total amount ofMore than 100 million yuan.
When launching the plan, Hycan made good promises, saying that investments could be refunded if any employees resigned, but from the current revelations, the company did not actually fulfill its promise.
Why not withdraw money? The reason is probably due to the company's capital chain.
In April this year, a Hychuang Auto employee broke the news on Maimai that without receiving any communication or explanation, the employee only receivedBasic wagenot a penny of performance-based salary was given.
The employees wanted an explanation, but the executives were avoiding it; when they went to the human resources department, the response they got was that “sales volume did not meet targets” so there was no performance-based salary, but this was completely different from the company's policy.
To make matters worse, there are recent reports that senior executives of Hechuang notified employees within the company this month that only basic wages will be paid in June, and that five insurances and one fund will be guaranteed to be paid, but there is no guarantee of salary payment starting in July, leaving employees to “find their own way out.”
In addition, there are reports that Hechuang has started since July last year.LayoffsHowever, there is no compensation for layoffs, and the normal compensation process for being laid off is not followed, so one can only resign voluntarily.
It is also among this group of “resigned” employees that many have not yet received the return of their investments.
Withholding employees’ wages, laying off employees without compensation, and even the inability to get back previously invested money…all these phenomena clearly indicate that Hechuang’s operations and funds are not normal.
As of now, Hycan has not made any public response to these news.
It seems that even the old car companies + star capital cannot save Hycan.
What happened to Hechuang?
Hycan can be said to have reached its peak as soon as it debuted.
The predecessor isGAC Aionwas jointly established by GAC Aion (then known as GAC New Energy) and NIO in 2018, with GAC and NIO management holding joint shares.
The combination of traditional car companies and new forces was relatively rare at the time, so it also brought considerable fame to Hycan.
In addition to investment, both parties also attracted many talents and other resources, such as the first CEOLiao BingHe has worked in many companies under GAC Group and has more than 25 years of experience in automotive R&D, quality, strategy and management.
The company's first carCo-creation 007the company completed its market delivery more than two years after its establishment, which was very efficient. However, this car also had controversy at the time because it had a different shell than Aion LX and its voice assistant was basically the same as NIO Nomi.
However, this car did not help Hycan gain a foothold, and its sales in 2020 and 2021 combined did not exceed 1,000 units.
Since then, Hycan has been on a turbulent road.
first of allshareholderIt has changed. The newly introduced major shareholder, Zhujiang Investment Management, has joined GAC Group to increase capital. At the same time, NIO has withdrawn, its shareholding ratio has been reduced, and Li Bin has resigned as the legal representative. Secondly,Company NameChanged from GAC Aion to Hycan; andExecutive ReplacementLiao Bing resigned as CEO and general manager of GAC Passenger VehicleAngelababyTake over.
Executives have also been changing.
For example, last year we poached a beautiful vice president from iFLYTEKDuranbecame co-president, but quietly resigned six months later, leading to a major reshuffle of the sales and marketing management team; at the end of the year,Zhang YuesaiThe new president will also serve as the legal representative, while the former legal representative and presidentLi ZhihongResign.
According to incomplete statistics from the China Business News, the middle and senior management of Hycan Auto has changed more than 10 times in four years, which means that the company's middle and senior management has to be replaced every less than five months.
Why are senior executives replaced so frequently?
Most likely it's to save the sluggish sales.
Since its establishment, Hechuang has launched many cars, including the first mid-size pure electric SUVCo-creation 007Later, there will be a compact pure electric SUVHechuang Z03pure electric mid-size sedanHechuang A6and pure electric MPVHechuang V09covering from sedans to SUVs to MPVs, and a price range of 100,000 to 500,000.
But regardless of whether or not new models were launched, Hycan's sales were not very good. Except for the sales in 2022, which soared from 2,924 units to 18,941 units, the sales in 2023 remained the same, 18,559 units, or even a little less.
Among the four models, only the HiPhoenix Z03 once had some fame, and now its monthly sales are only over a hundred or even dozens of units. The HiPhoenix V09, which was once highly anticipated in 2023, also did not sell well, and even caused a scandal of suspected charging fraud when it was launched.
Most likely due to the urgent sales situation, the management of Hi-Tech has been replaced wave by wave, and even many other solutions have been found.
It is reported that in 2023, Hycan launched three major group agency sales plans, and many Hopson Zhujiang-related companies were included in the plan. These employees are not only responsible for their own house selling business, but also for helping to sell Hycan's full range of models.
Moreover, there are indicators for this agency sales. It is said that except for special positions, all regular employees must sell at least one car.
Not only that, Hechuang also began to force employees to sell cars. In March this year, it was revealed that Hechuang issued a notice to all employees.“On-site assistance program”Employees have to go to dealers to sell cars. If they fail to sell, their wages will be deducted. At the same time, the sales plan for employees of the three major groups this year is still being implemented.
However, these methods did not seem to help sales much. Instead, they gradually exposed the predicament of Hechuang's operational difficulties and financial problems.
It is worth noting that this landmine may have been planted a long time ago.
After the establishment of Hi-Tech, there have been only two rounds of public financing. One was when Zhujiang Investment Management joined and jointly with GAC to increase capital by 2.405 billion yuan; the other was when GAC and GAC Aion jointly invested 600 million yuan in 2023.
However, it was also later that GAC Group disclosed in its board announcement that the proposal for Hycan's investment was not passed unanimously. One GAC director believed that the future development of Hycan Automobile was “uncertain” and therefore suggested“Invest cautiously”abstained from voting.
However, this announcement did not attract much attention at the time. More attention was paid to the fact that GAC had invested in Hycan again and still had confidence in Hycan.
And more than a year later, this bomb finally exploded.