Weimar lagged behind, and all employees cut their salaries.Source|AI Blue Media Exchange
ID: lanmeih001
Author|Black Sheep
Editor | Wei Xiao
The day after it was reported that Weimar went through a backdoor listing on Hong Kong stocks, Liu Hongguang (pseudonym) approached me and said: Weimar is about to go public.
We decided to talk about Weimar in his eyes-in the eyes of a grassroots employee, the observed problems may be more specific, for example: Compared with Wei Xiaoli, we may have some deviations in some definition and planning of products.
From the trajectory of Weimar’s operation over the years, it can be seen that this is really a company with ups and downs. The founder Shen Hui is from Geely. He helped it acquire Volvo and was proficient in supply chain management. When the entire team of a major car manufacturer made its debut that year, it was so luxurious that it shone brightly.
The early stage of WM Motor’s financing ability is also strong. As of March 2022, WM Motor has conducted a total of 12 rounds of financing from A to D, with a cumulative fundraising of over 35 billion yuan. The capital list behind it is full of giant institutions such as Baidu, Tencent, and Sequoia China.
And it took only eight years for the team and funds with such a blessing to go from ranking second in the sales rankings of new car-making forces in 2019 to saving themselves. The losses were 4.145 billion yuan, 5.084 billion yuan and 8.206 billion yuan, with a total loss of 13.6 billion yuan in three years.
According to public information, as of the first quarter of this year, Weimar’s book cash and cash equivalents totaled only 3.678 billion, and the financial pressure is the largest among the second-tier new forces.
On the one hand, the various “powers” of China’s new energy car manufacturing are vigorously fighting, and on the other hand, with Shen Hui’s “full staff letter” on salary cuts, Weimar’s dilemma is vividly shown to the market-traditional car companies Both the founders Shen Hui and Weimar have to answer the question of whether the elites who come out can handle new energy vehicles well.
A “predicted” letter to all employees
At the end of November this year, Liu Hongguang, who works at home, felt that “it doesn’t matter much” when he saw the letter from Weimar founder Shen Hui.
In his words, “It has been rumored for so long that the stone finally fell to the ground.”
Prior to this, Liu Hongguang’s superiors and HR had talked to him about Weimar Motors’ operating conditions and personnel issues. “The content is nothing more than what is said in the letter, which is more difficult.” Moreover, the sales data can also confirm that “WM did have a problem”: in October this year, WM only sold 1,117 vehicles.
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Everything did not come suddenly, Liu Hongguang had expected it—like many people, he understood, but was very disappointed.
Although he did not resign, his salary was reduced by 30%. The letter from all employees stated that managers at the M4 level and above took the initiative to reduce their salary and pay 50% of their basic salary.
Even though it was “not worth it”, Liu Hongguang still chose to stay temporarily. Throughout 2022, he watched Weimar through the turmoil.
The main reason for the turmoil is – lack of money – layoffs.
At the beginning, Liu Hongguang looked at his colleagues whose employment contracts had expired and was asked not to renew their contracts; at the beginning of October, the company issued a document asking employees to voluntarily sign up to resign and give them N+1 compensation.
“Registration is voluntary, but if you don’t register, you will either go on your own, but you may not get N+1 compensation in the future, or you will accept a salary cut.” Liu Hongguang said.
But within Weimar, not many employees signed up to leave. Liu Hongguang observed that after the news of Weimar’s salary cut came out, many car companies began to deliberately suppress salary prices. make decisions.
“The peak period of resignation should be before April next year.” He judged.
Although there was no large-scale resignation, the salary cut affected morale after all. For a period of time, Weimar’s current employees have begun to prepare for their retreat. There are many news about resigned Weimar employees on the pulse, and some people have begun to search for positions on recruitment websites.
In December, there were rumors in the market that Weimar, whose life was hanging by a thread, showed a glimmer of vitality—or backdoored a company called Apollo Travel to list on the Hong Kong stock market.
On the day the news was exposed, Liu Hongguang also learned about it from media reports. He is still very calm. On the one hand, he feels that Weimar may really go public this time. On the other hand, the loss of confidence may not be resolved by listing and financing.
No all-employee stock ownership and no salary increases
Regarding the current problems, Liu Hongguang attributed half of them to Weimar, “it is too traditional”; the other half was annoyed at himself: “The vision of finding a job is still too shallow.”
When he joined the company, Li wanted to have a heated debate with a group of opponents of extended programs on the Internet. Li Bin showed off NIO’s blueprint while looking for GAC to discuss cooperation. When the new forces were still making cars on PPT, Weimar’s EX5 had already debuted.
At that time, Liu Hongguang couldn’t understand the routine of the new forces who didn’t build cars all day long, and was also immersed in the strength of the Weimar team-after all, Weimar has resources, a sales system, its own production line, and money.
Data speaks best.
As of March 2022, WM Motor has conducted 12 rounds of financing from A to D rounds, with a cumulative fundraising of over 35 billion yuan. The capital behind it is extremely luxurious, such as Baidu, Tencent, Sequoia China and other institutions.
What’s more, in 2019, the EX5 sold out, and Weimar ranked second in the list of new car manufacturers at that time with an annual sales volume of 16,900 new energy vehicles.
Liu Hongguang described that at that time, the whole team was full of confidence. After all, they won at the starting line. It was an exciting thing anyway.
However, the new energy car manufacturing industry has been in the industry for a long time, and it is inevitable that there will be comparisons among peers. In private communication, Liu Hongguang doubts that the salaries of those employees of the new car manufacturing forces who “do not do their jobs properly” are much higher. Since joining the company in 2018, Liu Hongguang’s basic The salary has never been raised again. Even when the sales of EX5 skyrocketed, he only got some extra performance awards.
“Weimarer’s salary is 14, and only the performance bonus will fluctuate with the performance. In fact, most of this kind of treatment appears in traditional companies.” He said.
To Liu Hongguang’s disappointment, there is Weimar’s tossing about the listing plan, which has been in a stillborn state. Weimar started preparations for listing as early as September 2020. However, from raising 50 billion yuan in the “First Automobile Shares on the Science and Technology Innovation Board” to failing to sprint to the Hong Kong stock market this year, there are always hopes, but they are always dashed.
As an employee, he believes that if the company goes public, he will at least get some shares. This kind of expectation is of course traceable, and it is even a common practice of many listed new energy vehicle manufacturers.
For example, Ideal Auto approved two equity incentive plans in 2019 and 2020 respectively; BYD also announced its employee stock ownership plan in April 2002, and NIO is said to have 2,000 shares for ordinary employees.
“However, Weimar does not have all employees holding shares. Only directors and above are eligible.” Liu Hongguang said.
The salary fluctuations are not big, and the listing and holding shares seems to have nothing to do with him. “IPO will only be good for the company, and employees should do what they want. At the same time, he feels that even if the listing is successful and rescued, Weimar’s future is also worrying.” Ma is still too traditional and difficult to transform. “
Transformation is a healing process
In 2019, after EX5 became a hit, the next year, Weimar fell behind.
In 2020, Weimar’s sales volume will be 22,500, falling from second to fourth in the list of new car manufacturers. After that, Weimaraner never made it to the top three.
Confidence was lost like water, and Weimar was also looking for changes internally. Liu Hongguang noticed that the co-founder in charge of sales, Lu Bin, had left.
Before joining WM, Lu Bin served successively as the general manager of SAIC’s Chevrolet brand regional business department, the deputy general manager of Geely Automobile Sales Company, and the executive deputy general manager of Chery Automobile Sales Company.
Liu Hongguang counted these resumes in detail and said: “Lu Bin helped Weimar establish an offline sales system, but this sales method has too many genes from traditional car companies. When he left, we thought that the sales system would be improved, but not No.
According to the prospectus, as of December 31, 2021, Weimar Motors had a total of 621 partner stores, but only one year later, a quarter of them were closed. At the beginning of this month, AI Blue Media Exchange called a WM Motor dealership in Shanghai. The staff said: The car is not easy to sell, and half of the WM Motor stores in Shanghai are closed.
But after Lu Bin left, Weimar did not change the traditional sales model.
This makes the confidence of grassroots employees continue to decline along with sales. In 2021, the situation facing Weimar is even more embarrassing. The sales volume of that year was 44,200 vehicles, ranking behind Xiaopeng, Weilai, Ideal, and Nezha. fifth.
In the same year, Xiaopeng delivered 98,200 vehicles, Weilai delivered 91,400 vehicles, and ideally delivered 90,500 vehicles.
Liu Hongguang felt the chill, which was the dissatisfaction of grassroots employees. For a period of time, many people were talking about “Wei Xiaoli”‘s Internet sales ideas, and how the founders used social platforms to make their voices attract attention-only on this point, Weimar has almost no voice.
Since then, he has re-examined the new car-making forces that he “looked down” in the past: “Ideal’s product positioning is very precise, so he also sells well, and the overall Internet sales system of the new forces, Weimar has not learned, and it is also difficult to learn. Can’t learn.”
Liu Hongguang seems to be very aware of Weimar’s crux, but his expression is very calm: “I don’t know if the leaders are aware of it. In fact, as an ordinary employee, it is difficult to make some suggestions about the structure.”
He even pointed out Weimar’s product strength and product planning issues, “Our first three models are all SUVs. In fact, whether it is Xiaopeng or Weilai, basically after the SUV comes out, we will plan a sedan.”
But he was a little excited when facing the issue of Weimar’s future transformation.
“It’s very difficult to transform, why? Because the most important thing now is the background of the executives (too traditional). If you want to transfer, you must scrape your bones and heal your wounds. Just like Xiaopeng and Ideal, some executives have to leave. So the first thing you need to do to transform is the organizational structure, if you still have these people, it means you won’t be able to make the transition.”
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