The ultra-competitive landscape that is the Chinese car market has already seen many start-up players fall by the wayside, and the natural cull isn’t far from over. Another player that may be heading out the door in the near future is Hycan, with reports coming out from China indicating that things aren’t looking good for the carmaker, to put it mildly.
If the name sounds somewhat familiar, that’s because it surfaced on the local radar a couple of months back. In September, we reported that the Guangzhou-based new energy vehicle brand had revealed plans to enter the Malaysian market next year, doing so through a local distributor called Concept Fields.
That’s looking like a very long shot now, if what CarNewsChina reports is right. It is said that Hycan has been suffering from serious cash flow issues due to sluggish sales, and its absence from the ongoing Guangzhou Auto Show is part of the cracks that can be seen on the surface.
Underneath that is a situation that is much more dire. News outlets have reported that the company has laid off all its employees in its Shanghai branch and defaulted on compensation for laid-off employees. This comes after it was reported that all sales channels in Shanghai were suspended in June, with no one answering phone calls at the brand’s experience centre or its branches at that point.
According to the CNC report, layoffs began as early as April this year, with reports indicating that 50% of staff were laid off then. By July, there were still around 600 employees left, but the factory was already shut, and production and sales plans were suspended.
Laid-off employees claim that only about 50 staff are presently left at the Guangzhou headquarters to maintain the company’s basic operations, and the current employees were moving to Nansha district to work. The report adds that it isn’t only employees that Hycan owes money to, but also suppliers. So far this year, more than 100 cases have been filed in which Hycan is a defendant.
The brand was established by GAC Group (GAC) and Nio in 2018 as GAC-Nio New Energy Technology, with both GAC Group and GAC New Energy (now GAC Aion), taking a share in the company. Under the partnership, GAC was responsible for research and development as well as vehicle production, while Nio would provide the technology and EV infrastructure.
Nio’s share progressively dwindled from 2020 as the company suffered severe financial pressures. In 2021, Zhujiang Investment Management Guangdong Pearl River Investment) took over as the largest shareholder, with Nio’s share scaling down to just 4.5%. The following year, Nio withdrew from the JV completely.
Given all this, it is looking unlikely that Hycan will make its way here as intended. And what will the Malaysian market be missing out on? Well, three full-electric models were slated for Malaysia, these being the Z03 SUV, the A06/A06 Plus sedans and the V09 MPV, details of which you can read about here.
GALLERY: Hycan Z03 SUV
GALLERY: Hycan V09 MPV
GALLERY: Hycan A06 sedan
GALLERY: Hycan A06 Plus sedan
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Buying an EV is already a risk, buying an EV from a brand that might go out of business is even worst.
Even domestically, Chinese social media is talking about being a garlic chive/韭菜 (basically being an idiot, originally from stock market where the smaller players gets played out by bigger players) if you buy into a struggling brand.
MITI (?) should filter out the weaker brands and stop them from entering our market.
Can expect the domino effect already. Nothing new..Easy come, easy go. Leave the pathetic buyers high n dry lor
dont think we miss anything bcos they look like rebadge GAC Aion models which tanchong bring in anyway
That is so nice to hear!
ini mesti salah amerika
Lololol Nio Mahai
Hycan’t