AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)02/18 Report--

No one expected that Weimar, which announced not long ago that it had received financing and was ready to go public in the form of mergers and acquisitions, appeared on the edge of the cliff. On February 18, # Huanggangweima factory was almost empty # and # Weimar CEO Shen Hui responded to the business situation # topics successively rushed to Weibo, causing strong attention in the industry.

On the evening of February 17th, Weimar refuted the rumors on its official Weibo account, such as "Weima Automobile Finance Department set up a project without authorization", "10 million-level project in which enterprises rely on scalpers to brush orders", and a Weima former employee said that "the company's management gives the green light for their own project".

Subsequently, Shen Hui, founder, chairman and CEO of Weima Automobile, forwarded the Weibo to his personal social platform with a caption: "Weima did encounter some difficulties in the past year due to the objective impact of the epidemic and market environment." We are adjusting through a series of measures to reduce costs and increase efficiency, to ensure the resumption of work and production, and to ensure the experience of end users. Learn from the bitter experience before you can pack up and start again! Thank you for your concern, and please do not believe the rumors and wait for our good news. "

After entering 2023, Weimar is still mired in negative news. In the morning # Huanggangweima factory is almost empty # quickly rushed to the third most popular search list of Weibo. At present, the Weimahuanggang plant is almost empty, with more than 600 employees at its peak and mainly produces Weima W6 models, time Finance reported. Nowadays, however, even the wages of outsourced security guards cannot be paid, and employees with "nothing to do" are transferred to part-time jobs as security guards. Except for the occasional entry and exit of one or two officers on duty at the door, there was no sign of activity in the whole factory area.

Huanggang factory is Weima's second factory, with a total investment of 20.2 billion yuan. according to the plan, the first phase of construction will achieve an annual production capacity of 150000 new energy vehicles, and an overall annual production capacity of 300000 vehicles in 2025. Time Finance reported that a large area of the factory is now a wasteland, full of weeds, and there is no sign of expansion or construction. Du Ligang, co-founder of Weima, said that early investment in the second factory (Huanggang plant) led to long-term idle production capacity and idle funds. If it had been a few years later, the financial burden would have been smaller. Du Ligang used to be CFO of Weimar, proficient in financial management and capital operation of domestic and foreign enterprises, played a key role in the initial financing of Weima, and can be called Shen Hui's right-hand man. However, at the end of last year, du Ligang was revealed to be leaving Weimar, when media reported that although he was still in the WeCom of Weimar, he was in the process of leaving.

Founded in 2015 and founded by Shen Hui, former vice president of Geely Holdings Group, Weima Motor is headquartered in Shanghai and has two manufacturing bases and independent qualifications. The two factories are located in Wenzhou, Zhejiang Province and Huanggang, Hubei Province. At the same time, the car company with two level 4 intelligent factories also means that Weima will not be affected by the "credit card progress". However, unlike a number of car companies, even though Weima Automobile has strong production resources, it is still hard to escape the situation of "sharp decline in orders and idle capacity".

Since 2016, Weimar has built two major production bases in Wenzhou and Huanggang, with a total production capacity of 250000 vehicles. In March 2018, the first batch of Weima EX5 production cars were trial installed at the Wenzhou production base. However, at present, the Wenzhou plant, one of the main production forces of Weima, is also in a state of suspension. In early January, some Wenzhou citizens explored the Weimar Wenzhou factory and revealed that the factory had no order for half a year, so it was in a state of suspension of production. According to previous rumors, the plant will resume work around February 8, but time has passed and the plant has not resumed production. At the same time, a number of media pointed out that Weimar headquarters building will move out in arrears of rent.

In addition, a number of media reported recently that Weimar will launch a new round of pay cuts internally and an internal notice that all employees will be suspended from work, and 25% of the wages will be paid to employees as soon as March. The 25% salary is based on the salary after a 30% discount last year. According to the report, not all employees can get 25% salary this time, and the pay cut does not involve the level above the general manager. At the same time, departments will cut 75% of their employees (the so-called no pay, no compensation), and the rest will be paid at the current 70%. In response to the news, Weimar said: we have not received this news yet, so it is not convenient to respond. However, at present, the relevant plan has been spread internally, causing strong dissatisfaction among employees.

Financial constraints and a spate of negative news mean that Weimar is not having an easy time. On January 12, Hong Kong-listed company Apollo Wisdom announced on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange that it plans to buy Weimar for US $2.02 billion (about 13.696 billion yuan) and will settle the matter by allocating 28.8 billion shares of HK $0.55 per share. In short, Weimar is listed through mergers and acquisitions. According to the plan, Weimar's financing of more than $2 billion was scheduled to arrive in February, but it has not yet arrived, which is one of the reasons why Weimar is once again in a financial crunch.

Tianyan investigation shows that risk information shows that recently, Weima Automotive Technology Group Co., Ltd. and its subsidiaries have added a new court notice, including 29 court information from February 20 to April 12, 2023. The plaintiffs include a number of refrigeration equipment, auto parts, machinery, advertising companies, etc., most of the cases are sales contracts, contracting contracts, service contract disputes. In addition, 22.86 million of the shares held by Weima New Energy vehicle sales (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. have been frozen, the company has also been applied for pre-litigation property preservation, and assets worth about 130 million yuan have been seized and frozen.

According to the official website, Weimar currently sells four models, including EX5, W6, E.5 and M7. Data show that Weima's cumulative sales in 2022 were only 29500, down 33.3% from the same period last year, including 153,30 in November and December 2022, respectively. At present, Weimar, which "lives like an animal", is in a precarious situation.

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