AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)10/17 Report--

According to media reports, people familiar with the matter revealed that Shen Hui, founder and chairman of Weimar Motor, is no longer in China. According to the report, Shen Hui took part in the Munich auto show in Germany and then made a direct flight to New York in the United States, leaving behind nearly 40 billion yuan in investment and debt as well as unpaid Weima employees.

On October 16, a reporter contacted Shen Hui himself, but did not get a relevant response. According to people close to Shen Hui, Shen Hui is no longer in China and has not been seen in public at the company since the Spring Festival in 2023, and his family has moved to the United States before. "he was seen in Munich, but even if he went to Munich, he went back to the United States."

In fact, as early as September this year, there are media reports that there are close to Weima industry insiders said that Shen Hui himself is no longer in China. At that time, Apollo Wisdom Travel Group Co., Ltd. issued a notice to terminate the acquisition of Weimar agreement. Subsequently, Weimar posted on Weibo that it voluntarily terminated the RTO process of travelling with Apollo on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.

On the same day, Shen Hui responded to the rumors of "running away" abroad on Weibo, saying: "I went to Munich on a business trip this week, and then New York. Good things take a long time, waiting for the flowers to bloom. " The address of this post is Beijing, and as of press time, Shen Hui's personal Weibo IP is displayed as Beijing. In this regard, a person close to Shen Hui told the Shanghai Securities News that there are special personnel to help Shen Hui release Weibo in China, so the dynamic release addresses are all domestic addresses.

Looking at Shen Hui's past work experience, Shen Hui held management positions in core auto parts companies and vehicle companies such as BergWarner, Fiat, Volvo and Geely before founding Weimar (established in 2015). Shen Hui joined BergWarner in 2000 and became president of BergWarner Group Emission Systems China three years later. In 2007, he became president of Fiat Power China. Two years later, in 2009, Geely acquired Volvo, and Shen Hui became vice president of Geely Holdings Group, senior vice president and chairman of Volvo Automotive in China. Shen Hui led the team to complete the largest overseas acquisition of Volvo by Geely in the history of China's automobile industry and was responsible for restructuring Volvo's global governance structure.

As a veteran of the automobile industry, compared with Li Xiang, Li Bin and he Xiaopeng, founders of Wei Xiaoli, a new force in car manufacturing, Shen Hui has accumulated a lot of experience in automobile manufacturing. But as the founder of Weimar, Shen Hui's high-profile moment is not when Weimar is a big seller, but it is exposed that his annual salary exceeds 1.2 billion yuan.

In September 2022, the topic of "Weima lost 8.2 billion founders' annual salary of 1.2 billion" went viral on various platforms, and Shen Hui became famous at that time. Weima's prospectus shows that Weima's losses continued to increase from 2019 to 2021, including a huge loss of 8.2 billion yuan in 2021, but Shen Hui's salary in that year was as high as 1.2617 billion yuan, accounting for nearly 30% of Weima's annual income. Its ultra-high personal salary contrasts sharply with Weima's annual loss, so it is bombarded by well-known investors. In fact, Shen Hui's annual salary of 1.2 billion is not accurate. It includes restricted share income, in other words, how much depends on the performance of Weima's stock price after listing.

On November 24 of the same year, Shen Hui responded for the first time to such questions as Weimar's "founder's annual salary", sales "lagging behind" and operating status. "the sales ranking is the list of losses, thanks to much more losses, and the share price has fallen a lot," Shen Hui said. Valuation is also much lower. There must be problems with the new car-building force's model of using losses to offset sales, including Weimar. I think there are problems in the whole industry. The way we compete is to continue to burn money, and there is a problem with our ability to continue to operate. "

Although Shen Hui has accumulated a lot of experience in the automotive field, and Weimar has abundant resources, these favorable conditions have failed to bring better prospects for Weima Motors. Now Weimar Motor is still inevitably moving towards the stage of bankruptcy reorganization.

"Live, live like an animal" is a line from the movie "Furong Town" shared by Shen Hui on Weibo earlier this year, which has been interpreted by the outside world as a true portrayal of the situation of Weimar. However, things went against his wishes, and in the end, Weimar fell on the road to survival.

On October 10, Weima Automotive Technology Group Co., Ltd. filed for bankruptcy reorganization, according to the National Enterprise bankruptcy reorganization Information Network. In the afternoon, Weimar issued a notification letter saying that in view of the fact that Weima still has commercial and salvage value, the corporate governance structure is still complete, it has the ability to negotiate independently, and some creditors also have the willingness to restructure. Shanghai No. 3 Intermediate people's Court accepted the pre-reorganization application of Weima Automobile Technology Group on October 7, 2023, which means that Weima Automobile has not yet formally entered the legal bankruptcy reorganization procedure. At noon on October 12, Weima Automobile issued the "Declaration notice of pre-reorganization creditor's Rights of Weima Automotive Technology Group Co., Ltd." on the official Weibo, which mentioned that, upon the application of Weima Automotive Technology Group Co., Ltd., the Shanghai No. 3 Intermediate people's Court issued (2023) Shanghai 03 Breaking Shen No. 1062 "acceptance notice of pre-reorganization" on October 7, 2023, accepting Weima Group's application for pre-reorganization.

On October 12, Weimar transferred tens of millions of yuan of equity in the real estate company, or promoted bankruptcy restructuring. Tianyan check information shows that Chengdu Weihong Real Estate Co., Ltd. has undergone industrial and commercial changes, Weima Automotive Technology Group Co., Ltd. withdrew from the ranks of shareholders, a new shareholder Chengdu Zhuangma Technology Co., Ltd.

From the peak of its debut to the current bankruptcy and restructuring, Weimar's crisis is only a microcosm of many new car-building forces. In the highly competitive new energy car track, including Reading, Biden, Singularity, self-travelers and other car companies have been left behind or out. With the start of a new round of knockout of domestic new energy vehicles, financing capacity and basic car-building skills may determine the life and death of the new car-building forces.

Against this background, funds were once tight, and it is not easy for Weima Motor, which is mired in negative news such as layoffs, wage cuts, production stoppages, rent arrears, to climb out of the quagmire. In addition, although Weima Motor firmly said that it would not lie flat, let alone fall down, the industry believes that the moribund Weima Motor will face a lot of challenges even if the subsequent restructuring is completed.

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