By ZHOU Shuqi
In an industrial park on the fringes of Shanghai stands the tranquil 20-story headquarters of Weltmeister Motors (WM). When Jiemian News visited, a security guard said the staff were working from home until December 5. The other buildings in the park are conspicuously busy.
The ground floor of WM HQ two models – WM W6 debuted April last year and WM M7 that was supposed to be delivered now – are displayed on a stained red carpet in a vacant hall. Dried leaves swirl in the draft. WM employees are having their wages cut by 30 percent (50 percent for senior executives). Bonuses are cancelled.
Founded in 2015 WM was a top-three EV maker until 2019. WM had closed 12 financing rounds, raising 30 billion yuan (US$4.4 billion), more than Nio and Li Auto combined before they went public.
The government lavished cash on the upstart. The rent for the ghostly headquarters barely registers. Factories in Zhejiang and Hubei provinces were more or less paid for by local governments.
In 2017, WM announced its “128 plan”, one electric structure, two vehicle platforms and eight models. So far? One out-of-date platform, and five old-fashioned cars.
WM delivered 22,500 models in 2020, fourth in the domestic EV market. The number went up to 44,200 in 2021 but dropped to the fifth as others were growing fast. This year WM didn’t reveal is delivery stats, but it’s pretty safe to say an awful lot less cars have been sold. open data showed WM sold less than 30,000 models, 14 percent less than last year. The two factories are operating at 20 percent capacity.
WM lost 13.6 billion yuan from 2019 to 2021. It loses 100,000 yuan on every car it sells. By June, sackings began. Half of WM dealerships in Shanghai are closed.
Five kilometers from the WM HQ is a WM dealer, but it’s closing at the end of the month. Only four cars have been sold since August.
Another dealership in Songjiang, received 15 cars two monthes ago, and have not been able to sell them. In the best month, they sold three.
WM president SHEN Hui was the VP of Geely in charge of the Volvo merger. When he founded WM he simply copied Geely, who sued for 2.1 billion yuan.
WM had 620 outlets last year, more than Nio, XPeng and Li Auto combined. A distributor said sales are too small to sustain so many stores and WM does not have enough money to make any more.
