After nearly a week of heated discussions regarding the news of Tianjin's "largest Audi 4S dealership," the main party involved, Tianjin Yonghao Group, issued a public statement.
Last week, several media outlets reported that the Yonghao Audi 4S dealership, located in Zhongbei Town, Xiqing District, Tianjin, suddenly closed its doors, leaving thousands of car owners in a predicament regarding their consumer rights.
Public information indicates that the main company behind this 4S dealership is Tianjin Yonghao Ouda Automobile Sales and Service Co., Ltd., which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Tianjin Yonghao Group Co., Ltd. In addition to Audi, the company also abruptly closed its 4S dealerships for the Hongqi and Dongfeng Honda brands.
Tianjin's largest Audi 4S dealership as of November 17, 2024.
It is reported that the Yonghao Audi 4S dealership covers a construction area of 18,000 square meters, with a sales showroom of 3,000 square meters. It is not only the largest Audi 4S dealership in Tianjin but also a flagship enterprise within the Audi network.
Given its significant impact, the incident of the "largest Audi 4S dealership in Tianjin closing" has continued to escalate online.
In response, Tianjin Yonghao Group issued a statement on November 17. The contents are as follows:
First, we sincerely apologize to those who have experienced panic and unease due to the sudden closure of the "Yonghao Audi, Yonghao Hongqi, and Yonghao Dongfeng Honda" 4S dealerships.
In recent years, the rapid rise of new energy vehicles has led to an increasingly severe market environment for gasoline vehicles, and competition has intensified. Although our situation has tightened, we have still managed to keep going. Recently, however, we faced a severe blow when a bank, with which we had a long partnership, suddenly withdrew its loans, severing our funding chain and triggering a series of chain reactions. This included our inability to make timely vehicle deliveries to customers due to insufficient funds to cover redemption costs, an inability to pay employee salaries from August to October 2024, and a suspension of related rebates. Some media's spread of misinformation exacerbated customers' concerns and panic.
We fully understand your worries about the status of the three brand 4S dealerships under Yonghao Group, and we know that various rumors circulating online have caused you unease. Here, we solemnly declare:
Recent online rumors about "Yonghao Group boss Wang Xuejun fleeing abroad with funds," "the 4S dealership moving all stock vehicles,” and "customers unable to retrieve their cars after paying 800,000 yuan to Yonghao Audi" are all false. Mr. Wang Xuejun has not been involved in any illegal activities, and there is no situation of "running away with money." He has been unable to perform his duties due to a serious illness following the company's funding crisis, but he still cooperated with company management to meet with business and public security departments on the afternoon of November 15. Regarding the situation of vehicle transfers, the movement of vehicles from the Audi showroom was a result of a bank acting on misinformation and taking back vehicles that were financed but not yet sold. As of now, there are no cases where Audi customers have paid for their vehicles but are unable to pick them up. Only a small number of Hongqi vehicles were allowed to be taken by the bank on November 9, while the majority remain in storage. Dongfeng Honda vehicles were taken away by the bank unilaterally, and we reported this to the police immediately to maximize protection of customer interests.
The concentrated advocacy for consumer rights by a large number of clients has posed significant challenges and pressures on our work, leaving us unable to timely release various data and clarify rights issues, which further heightened your panic and unease. For this, we apologize once again.
Although Yonghao Group’s 4S dealerships have suspended operations due to funding chain issues, as a group company with over 20 years of establishment, nearly 400 employees, and a large base of loyal customers, we will not give up our efforts to resolve these problems. At present, aside from striving to secure funds to address vehicle delivery issues and employee salary concerns, we are actively seeking support from brand manufacturers. We have already connected with Honda, Hongqi, and Audi to discuss support policies, and we sincerely request the brands to work with the company to solve customer issues. Additionally, relevant government departments have urgently met with our management to assist the company in quickly recovering debts and developing solutions to safeguard the legal rights of our large customer and employee base.
Finally, we again urge everyone to remain calm and rational, not to believe or spread rumors. We have established a dedicated task force to update the progress of problem resolution weekly while reporting to the relevant government departments. We are proactively solving issues and greatly appreciate your understanding and support.
