In the ever-changing market, the idea of making money easily only exists in vision. More often than not, some people rack their brains to survive, while others bounce back and forth between success and becoming a "dishonest debtor", either being swallowed up by public opinion or eliminated by the market.
Jiyue launches refund process for car owners
Event overview : On January 17, Jiyue officially announced that starting from that day, it will carry out full refunds in an orderly manner for users who have paid the deposit/deposit but have not yet picked up the car and meet the refund conditions. It is expected that starting from January 22, the funds will be returned to the user's account by bank transfer.
The refund process is divided into three stages: completing refund registration, internal review, and signing the contract termination agreement.
On December 29, 2024, in Liangjiang New District, Chongqing, the door of the Jiyue automobile brand store was sealed and closed.
Comment : Although Xia Yiping, CEO of Jiyue, has received poor reviews online, from the company's "flash crash" to the compensation of unpaid wages for employees, the establishment of an after-sales team, and the arrangements for refunds for users who have not picked up their cars, its major shareholders Geely and Baidu still showed the attitude that a large company should have.
In contrast, many new forces that left the stage in 2024 were exposed for wage arrears, layoffs and bankruptcy, and there was no follow-up, no longer caring about their dignity.
However, Jiyue's hope of returning to the market is slim. On the one hand, after this incident, the market lacks confidence in it, and the layout of the two shareholders in their core areas no longer needs Jiyue to complete.
In addition, at the beginning of 2025, the auto market has entered a new pattern - GAC and Huawei's automotive BU have been working together; SAIC and Huawei are also "about to have good things happen". The products of major new forces have entered a new generation of replacement, such as NIO will fully enter the "NT3.0" era. The continuity of Jiyue's products is no longer enough to compete with the players in 2025.
Ledao "forces" employees to buy cars
Event overview : Recently, chat records circulated on the Internet showed that Ledao Automobile forced every salesperson to buy a Ledao L60 and recycle it after half a year, but there was no contract agreement.
In response, Ledao Vice President Qinghua said that the problem originated from a Ledao store manager in Wenzhou who used an overly blunt approach in communication and had been severely criticized. The company hopes that employees will drive its own brand vehicles to gain a deeper understanding of the products and provide more real and convincing experience sharing when communicating with users. The company also provides certain car purchase policy benefits to front-line employees and store managers.
December 31, 2024, Shanghai, Ledao Automobile.
Comment : According to public information, it is cost-effective for Ledao employees to buy their own cars. Screenshots leaked online show that employees who buy Ledao L60 need to pay 150,000 yuan to rent electricity according to the car price, and they also enjoy an employee discount of 26,000 yuan, and the invoice price is 124,000 yuan. The monthly payment is 2,066 yuan for 6 months, plus the insurance fee of 5,200 yuan in Hainan, totaling 17,000 yuan (Hainan’s subsidy of 18,000 yuan can cover the monthly payment for half a year). After half a year, the company will repurchase the vehicle at a 25% discount of 112,500 yuan, and the residual value of the old car is calculated as 124,000 yuan minus the total monthly payment for 6 months, which is 111,604 yuan.
In other words, employees can use the vehicle for free within half a year, and can also obtain a difference profit of 900 yuan and an insurance refund of 2,000 yuan after half a year. In addition, they can also enjoy half a year of free battery replacement service without having to bear travel costs.
Some netizens said, "I have never seen forced car purchases under such favorable conditions," but some netizens also said, "No matter how cost-effective it is, it is unreasonable to force employees who have no intention of buying a car to buy it."
In fact, it is not difficult for the outside world to taste the meaning of "encouraging employees to buy Ledao" from the words of Ledao's vice president, but in the process of passing the "guiding ideology" down, it is inevitable that it will be distorted. For example, the Wenzhou store manager "freely played" and turned "encouragement" into "compulsion".
This phenomenon is not uncommon in the industry. In the past, a real estate developer even made a car and allowed employees to buy a house and then get a car for free. In this way, he sold both the house and the car.
Multinational automakers also have similar practices. For example, Toyota engineers have mentioned on more than one occasion that "superiors require us to drive Toyota cars to and from get off work" because "we need to understand the strengths and weaknesses of Toyota products so that we can continue to build better cars."
But for the same operation, the corporate spirit and market purpose behind this move seem to be worlds apart.
