AutoBeta(AutoBeta.net)03/05 Report--

March 5, FaradayFuture (FF, Faraday Future) announced that FF and its Chinese subsidiaries filed a lawsuit against Ding Lei, former FF executive and founder of Chinese Express, with Shenzhen Intermediate People's Court for infringement of trade secrets and unfair competition.(together with other affiliated companies, hereinafter referred to as "Chinese Express") filed a lawsuit, requesting the court to order compensation for corresponding losses, and further requiring Chinese Express to immediately stop infringing on trade secrets related to FF 91, including but not limited to stopping (i) using the trade secrets involved,(ii) using the trade secrets involved to design, develop, produce and sell the products suspected of infringing,(iii) selling the allegedly infringing product or providing after-sales service for the allegedly infringing product using the trade secret involved, and immediately stopping the alleged unfair competition.

There may have been an early warning. On February 24, FF founder Jia Yueting commented on the article "Gaohe is on the verge of bankruptcy, the end of a new energy vehicle plagiarism era" in the circle of friends, saying that "(Gaohe) is a shame for the industry." In this article, after Ding Lei and LeEco split up, Ding Lei got the full design of FF 91, showing the fact that HiPhi X, the first production car of Gaohe Automobile, looks very similar to FF 91.

The main body of Gaohe Automobile Operation, Chinese Express, was founded in 2017 by Ding Lei. Unlike the new power leaders we know well, Ding Lei is a veteran of the automobile industry and rarely appears in public.

According to the data, Ding Lei has been working in SAIC Volkswagen system since he graduated from the physics department of Fudan University in July 1988. From the earliest engineer, quality team leader, executive director of procurement department and other posts, Ding Lei has been the general manager of SAIC GM and vice president of SAIC Group. As the first-in-command, Ding Lei has been in charge of SAIC GM for six years, during which he also led the acquisition of MG Rover assets.

At the beginning of 2011, Ding Lei was transferred from business to politics, transferred to Party secretary and general manager of Zhangjiang Group, deputy secretary of Party group and executive deputy director of Zhangjiang High-tech Management Committee. Zhangjiang High-tech is an enterprise directly under the central government. Ding Lei's transfer also rose one level at the administrative level, from the head of the enterprise to the administrative post of the government, opening the road to politics.

In July 2015, Ding Lei changed from politics to business. He joined Jia Yueting's LeEco Automobile. He served as the co-founder of LeEco Automobile, the global vice chairman and CEO of China and Asia Pacific, and became the core key figure of LeEco Automobile. After Ding Lei, senior executives such as Zhenxing, the chief engineer of electric vehicle R & D from SAIC Group, Zhang Hailiang, vice president of SAIC Group, Niu Shengfu, head of R & D of SAIC Volkswagen, also joined Letv for six consecutive years.

Later, Le Lei, Jia Yueting in the name of car to leave the United States to create FF. However, the FF 91's mass production has been delayed again and again, and it is always only a foot away. At the same time, Ding Lei also had to find a new way out. In March 2017, he announced that he would no longer hold LeEco car-related positions due to physical reasons, and then founded Chinese Express, and dug away many core backbones. Gaohe HiPhi X has the same characteristics as FF 91 in terms of overall design and body size, which Jia Yueting called "plagiarism."

According to the data, FF91 has a length, width and height of 5250/2283/1598mm and a wheelbase of 3200mm respectively, while Gaohe HiPhi X has a length, width and height of 5200/2062/1618mm and a wheelbase of 3150 mm. The size of the two models is very close. In addition, the exterior and interior of the two models are also very similar. Of course, this does not directly prove that HiPhi X"plagiarized" FF 91, can only say that from the point of view of time, the design style of the two models is similar too coincidental.

After a few years, FF and Gaohe were both having a hard time. On February 26, FF released a global open letter to share FF status and development goals for 2024. The letter noted that the company continues to make progress in financing and believes FF will successfully complete a new round of financing. It is understood that FF has delivered only 10 FF 91 units in its ten years of existence, and all of them were delivered in 2023. In addition, FF U.S. stocks also face delisting, its current share price is only 0.1841 US dollars, the total market value is only 7.8561 million US dollars, far lower than Nasdaq 1 yuan listing trading standard, FF plans to again through reverse equity split has reached the listing standard.

Gaohe Automobile is even worse. At present, the factory has been shut down, the headquarters building is empty, and employees are applying for arbitration. On February 22, Ding Lei, founder of Gaohe Automobile, appeared at Shanghai headquarters and held a brief meeting with some employees and owners. Ding Lei started to reflect on the company's strategic planning, operation, marketing, public relations and other aspects of problems, resulting in sales targets can not be achieved, revenue is difficult to cover operating costs. He admitted that the factory had been shut down since November last year and that cash flow in the company's accounts had dried up, and said that "Gaohe Automobile still has a window period of three months," which may be as short as one month. Ding Lei urged all the employees left behind to fight together again. Speaking of the current situation of Gaohe Automobile, Ding Lei said that after the company announced the shutdown, some enterprises expressed their willingness and interest in Gaohe Automobile and gave investment or acquisition intention, and he would actively strive for it.

However, at present, there is no good news from Gaohe Automobile. On February 27, Ding Lei, CEO of Gaohe Automobile, appeared in Chongqing to meet Zhu Huarong, Chairman of Chang 'an Automobile, and test drive Chang' an Deep Blue S7. In response, Gaohe Automobile and Chang 'an Automobile confirmed that "the leaders of both sides have made friendly communication, but they are not clear about the content of the communication. "At the same time, market rumors, Changan Automobile or will acquire 51% of the shares of Gaohe Automobile, Zhu Huarong responded to the media said: " In the talks, far from 'proper'. "Combined with the existing information, Gaohe Automobile and Chang 'an Automobile are still in the preliminary negotiation stage, and the specific cooperation mode and details have not yet been finalized.

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