At the beginning of 2024, there was news that Gaohe 's cash flow was broken, suppliers did not deliver goods, and the factory had shut down. Industry experts predict that Gaohe Automobile will be the next new car-making force to fall.
"Rumors" were spreading everywhere, and Gao He naturally couldn't sit still, so he immediately issued a statement: Everything in the company is normal and the rumors are untrue. Please don't believe the rumors and don't spread them.
Refuting rumors, calling the police, and thanking others, Gaohe Automobile completed a series of actions in the face of a public opinion crisis. Some netizens said that everyone is familiar with these actions, and WM Motor has also refuted rumors before.
"Chelugluhua" noticed that Gaohe's response did not seem to dispel the doubts of the outside world. Although the original forum has deleted the post, the controversy caused by this matter has not stopped because of the deletion of the post.
Human Horizons, the operating entity of Gaohe Auto, was established in 2017. Its founder, Ding Lei, is a veteran of the automobile industry. He previously served as vice president of SAIC Motor and general manager of Shanghai General Motors Co., Ltd.
In early 2011, Ding Lei switched from business to politics and served as party secretary and director of Shanghai Zhangjiang Hi-Tech Management Committee, party committee secretary and general manager of Zhangjiang (Group) Co., Ltd., and deputy district mayor of Pudong New Area.
In 2015, Ding Lei decided to return to the automotive industry. His first stop was to become Jia Yueting’s partner and serve as the co-founder of LeTV Super Auto.
At that time, LeTV was at its peak, with its market value soaring to 170 billion. Jia Yueting's slogan of "choking for dreams" also attracted Ding Lei.
However, after the highlight, LeTV took a sharp turn. Since 2016, problems such as financial constraints and operating difficulties have appeared one after another. After less than two years of cooperation with
, Ding Lei chose to leave in March 2017. Three months after announcing his departure from LeTV, Ding Lei established Human Horizons Technology Co., Ltd. and became the founder, chairman and CEO.
Under the control of Ding Lei, Gaohe Automobile has launched three models so far, namely hiphi x, hiphi z, and hiphi y.
Gaohe hiphi x will be launched in 2020. There are initially two versions, priced at 680,000 yuan and 800,000 yuan respectively. This car looks very LeTV, so some people call it Boss Jia’s “Chinese version of FF 91”.
Gaohe also wants to establish a brand with high-priced models first, and then launch cheap cars to make money in volume. Unfortunately, the middle-class market is not easy to cut, and Gaohe's sales have never been able to increase.
In fact, the sales situation of Gaohe Automobile has been as hazy as fog, and sales data have not been released for many consecutive months.
After several searches on "Cheluhuhua", I found that in December 2023, when the sales of new energy vehicle companies were competing to hit a new high, Gaohe Automobile sold only 564 vehicles.
In the face of sluggish sales, Gaohe Automobile can only achieve continued operations through financing.
In June last year, Chinese Express, the parent company of Gaohe, signed a cooperation agreement with Saudi Arabia worth more than 40 billion yuan. At that time, some analysts said that the money was enough to extend the life of Gaohe Automobile.
Then in November last year, there was news that the Saudi fund planned to invest at least US$250 million in Chinese Express and at the same time spend US$3 billion to purchase the equity of Chinese Express.
In the past two days, according to Gaohe insiders, the money that the Middle Eastern tycoons said they would invest in Gaohe has been hanging on the bank and has not yet arrived.
In fact, Gaohe's problems did not come to light just today. At the beginning of last year, someone put up a banner saying "Pay back debts, it is natural" at the gate of Gaohe to protect their rights. The strain on Gaohe's company's capital chain was already apparent at that time.
Previously, Gaohe Automobile was also exposed to a round of large-scale layoffs, with a layoff ratio of 20% and up to 50% in some departments. Gaohe also stated that the so-called large-scale layoffs were false information.
A few days ago, some employees said that due to arrears in payments, some suppliers, including Bosch, have refused to provide Gaohefa with auto parts.
A few more words
Gaohe, whose sales continue to be sluggish, is unlikely to break even in a short period of time. It will either rely on external blood transfusions to survive, or when the "bubble" blown by capital bursts, it will most likely be eliminated by the market. .
Some people ridicule on the Internet that Ding Lei originally dug out Boss Jia's "legacy" to build cars, but he didn't expect that he would eventually become Boss Jia.
