Today the Chinese auto industry has returned from the New Year holidays, but the Human Horizons plant in Jiangsu province will continue to “rest”, since the company has nothing to pay workers. The planned downtime will last six months, during which Human Horizons management will try to revive the business.
The Human Horizons company was founded in 2017 by Chinese entrepreneur Ding Lei (aka David Ding), who has extensive experience in leadership positions in the Chinese auto industry (in particular, he was the CEO of SAIC-GM). Human Horizons operates under the HiPhi brand, this brand was initially aimed at the upper segment of the Chinese car market, its lineup consisted of high-tech electric cars with a rather eccentric design.
HiPhi Y
The first production model of Human Horizons was the large three-row crossover HiPhi X, it entered the Chinese market in 2021, followed in 2022 by the large fastback HiPhi Z, new last year was the mid-size crossover HiPhi Y, and the start of production of the flagship was planned for 2025. sports model HiPhi A, which premiered last October at the Guangzhou Auto Show.
HiPhi A < p>Almost immediately after the premiere of HiPhi A, rumors spread in the Chinese media that Human Horizons had accumulated financial problems, due to which it was forced to cut staff. Last week it became known that Human Horizons had canceled all bonus payments based on the results of last year, was delaying salaries and was closing showrooms. Yesterday, the company notified employees of the need to stop production at its only plant in the city of Yancheng, Jiangsu Province, and workers were asked to quit and apply for social benefits. The company's head office in Shanghai continues to operate, its employees will receive reduced salaries.
HiPhi X
The capacity of the Yancheng plant is 150,000 cars per year, while last year the company sold less than 5,000 cars in China . The HiPhi brand entered the European market only at the end of last year. The reasons for HiPhi's weak sales in China are high prices compared to competitors, which HiPhi was unable to reduce. In the Chinese car market, at the instigation of Tesla, a price war has been going on for about a year now; many young Chinese companies are suffering losses because of it, and Human Horizons turned out to be too small, without the proper safety margin.
HiPhi Z
Whether Human Horizons will survive or not is still unclear: its bright models may attract new investors, and then the company will continue to operate under its own brand. Other options: sale of the company, restructuring with government money and bankruptcy.