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On February 23, Ding Lei, founder and CEO of Chinese American Express Gaohe Motors, appeared at the Shanghai headquarters for the first time and held a brief meeting with some employees and car owners. According to Sina Technology and other media reports, Gaohe Auto employees revealed that this is Ding Lei's first public appearance since Gaohe fell into a production shutdown. In the internal meeting with the employees, Ding Lei apologized to the employees and the majority of high-tech car owners, admitting that he could not beat the Internet car-building model with his old business strategy. Ding Lei said that Gaohe car turnaround window period of up to three months, will actively strive for, unwilling to end this. At present, there are many external companies that are interested in, acquire or invest in high-tech cars.

According to reports, Ding Lei said at an internal meeting that he was very touched by the arrival of car owners, and that the situation in the company left him speechless. He said frankly: "in the next three months, Gaohe will be very difficult. I haven't slept for almost 24 hours." these months, it is a low ebb for me, I have not walked out of a misunderstanding, I can not beat the Internet with traditional business strategies. " As for the next situation, Ding Lei said that it is necessary to ensure the healthy operation of the basic functions of the company.

According to the data, Ding Lei was born in October 1963 and graduated from Fudan University with a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in solid-state physics from Fudan University and a senior master's degree in business administration from China Europe International Business School in 2003. He is currently the founder, chairman and CEO of Chinese American Express and the founder and CEO of its electric vehicle brand Gaohe Motor.

Reviewing his work experience, he also has deep attainments in the automotive field. He was general manager of Shanghai General Motors Co., Ltd., vice president of SAIC Group, party secretary and director of Shanghai Zhangjiang High-tech Park Management Committee, party committee secretary and general manager of Shanghai Zhangjiang (Group) Co., Ltd., deputy director of Shanghai Pudong New area, etc. Among them, he worked in SAIC for 19 years.

In September 2015, Jia Yueting invited Ding Lei to join Letv Supercar as co-founder. Ding Lei left Letv in March 2017, the year Letv's system capital chain crisis broke out, and Jia Yueting left the US in July 2017 to help raise money for FF. In the same month, Ding Lei founded Chinese Express and launched the smart car brand Gaohe in July 2019.

It is worth mentioning that the current high-tech car has been a chicken feather, recently has been reported many times in arrears with suppliers, pay cuts and dissolution and other negative news. It is reported that on the evening of February 18, the first day of the year of the Dragon, Gaohe recalled its internal assembly and announced a six-month suspension of production. Insiders told the media that employees' salaries before February 18 will be paid as usual. Employees who stayed in Gaohe Motor before March 15 will only be paid basic salary, while after March 15, employees will only be paid basic salary in Shanghai. On the afternoon of February 19, Gaohe Automobile once again issued a full notice to its employees, saying that starting from February 19, 2024, it would stop the daily operation of all its wholly-owned and controlling companies, and that all employees would enter a state of suspension of work and production; according to the situation of each region, it is usually 3-6 months. However, both pieces of news received an official response.

In addition, there are also media reports that a third-party labor company suddenly laid off more than 100 outsourced employees dispatched to the Gaohe plant. According to the report, the compensation scheme for Gaohe outsourced employees is that the average monthly salary is multiplied by N times (N is the number of years of service), of which those who are less than half a year are made up to half a year, and those with more than half a year are counted as the whole year. With regard to these outsourced personnel, a regular employee of Gaohe Automobile Yancheng factory revealed to the media that the more than 100 outsourced employees who were laid off this time belonged to JD.com, who was mainly responsible for logistics-related work, and JD.com paid the salary and compensation. At present, none of the regular employees of the Yancheng factory have received compensation, and Gaohe Automobile has not issued a formal notice.

According to the China Executive Information publicity Network, Gaohe (Qingdao) Automobile sales and Service Co., Ltd. was listed as the person subject to execution on February 20, with the execution target of more than 14.78 million yuan, and the enforcement court was the Qingdao Intermediate people's Court. According to public information, Gaohe (Qingdao) Automobile sales and Service Co., Ltd. in April 2021, the registered capital is 2 billion yuan, the legal representative, chairman and general manager are Ding Lei. The company is wholly owned by Chinese American Express Investment Co., Ltd., an affiliated company of Gaohe Automobile.

On February 22nd, Gaohe issued a "recent Service Operation guarantee notice" on its official App. The content shows that in the face of internal and external pressure and challenges, the company has made major adjustments to its daily operations since February 19, and is currently making every effort to take various relief measures. During this period, Gaohe HiPhi officials will make every effort to protect users' service operation, after-sales maintenance and other related work as the highest priority.

With regard to after-sales problems, Gaohe HiPhi official said that it is actively coordinating resources to ensure the maintenance of after-sales service and networking-related functions of high-tech vehicles, as well as the normal use of high-tech HiPhi App vehicle control functions and community sections. However, the service of Gaohe charging station, charging pile installation and App charging function (including free charging service) will be temporarily suspended, and the operation of App Hi Bay points and Gaohe selection Mall will also be temporarily suspended and will be reopened when follow-up resources are in place. At the same time, Gaohe Automobile will work with Yancheng Yuedazhi innovative Energy Automobile Co., Ltd., a strategic partner of Jiangsu Yueda Group, to provide after-sales service guarantee for users. In addition, Gaohe stressed: "Please rest assured that no matter how difficult it is, we will work with our partners to do our best to ensure user services." however, during the special period, we deeply apologize for pressing the pause button for some businesses and projects. "

Industry insiders said that the Gaohe car into the operating crisis may be related to the lack of capital investment in the Middle East. In November 2023, there was news that Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, the Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF), was in talks with Gaohe's parent company, Chinese Express, to invest at least $250 million, but the investment was delayed.

According to screenshots of internal records circulated on the Internet, Gaohe will set up a temporary organization to maintain the basic operation of the company. At the end of the above-mentioned meeting, Ding Lei also issued the slogan "We are strong, we will win" to the car owners.

In addition, today, Gaohe opened the live broadcast of "what the Gao Family have to say" through the official studio, and Yang Yueqing, project director of Gaohe HiPhi, appeared for the live broadcast. During the live broadcast, the executive admitted that Haohe was nervous about the capital chain, saying that it was impossible to interview too many high-value parts because it was very expensive for suppliers to open a production line and operate. However, it pointed out that the senior management of the company did not run away and were still working hard for the company and all its users. At present, many colleagues are still maintaining the operation and after-sales service of the company, and the wages owed will certainly be repaid, even if they go bankrupt. I hope you will give Gaohe some more time.

At present, time has become particularly precious for Gaohe, as Ding Lei mentioned above admitted that there are only three months left in the turnaround window, that is, we may be able to know whether Gaohe can stand up again in three months.

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