Evergrande's EV arm lays off headquarters staff

Hengchi Auto has been in trouble since Day 1. News about layoffs have surprised no one form staff to the market.

Photo from CFP

Photo from CFP

By PAN Tao

 

Hengchi Auto's notice of “work suspension” spread fast on the Internet. Sales staff of the EV arm of troubled property developer Evergrande can expect a "massive work stoppage without pay". It’s like a strike, but in reverse where the company refuses to allow the workers to work, but doesn’t pay them anyway.

Hengchi HQ staff can expect savage cuts, with a small minority of people moved to factories. Though according to China Business News that’s a mere smokescreen. Everyone is getting the boot. Its Guangzhou factory was already sold to a local state-owned automaker, according to reports from Hong Kong-based news outlet iFeng Weekly, workers were required to move to Tianjin before the end of this year. Its Tianjin plant is laying off 60 percent of its workforce. Those who are unlucky enough not to be fired will be suspended without pay for as many as three months.

Jiemian News previously reported that Evergrande may be acquired by another auto company, or be saved by a local government.

Evergrande's car production has been taken seriously inside neither the auto-making nor real-estate businesses. It is seen as little more than a slogan to cover up the company’s desperate situation.

Among its nine vehicles, the company has no resources to make more than one, the Hengchi 5, as well as funding the “development” of Hengchi 6 and 7, which are so far from production as to be off the radar entirely.

On October 29, the first batch of 100 Hengchi 5 was delivered. Negative comments pour in. A blogger recently posted a video showing some of the problems of Hengchi 5, such as overlapping text on the screen, strange noises when braking, and the broken assisted driving function.