February 18, Hiphi Auto (from Human Horizons) held an internal meeting and announced that it would suspend production for 6 months starting immediately.
According to Chinese reports, an internal source said that Hiphi stated that:
- Employees’ salaries before February 18 will be paid as usual.
- Employees who remain with Hozon Auto before March 15 will only be paid their basic salaries.
- Employees after March 15 will only be paid the basic salary standard of Shanghai.
It is reported that Hiphi pays salaries on the 15th of each month.
Previously, Hiphi Auto held an all-staff meeting to announce that it would postpone the payment of January salaries, cancel year-end bonuses, and cut salaries for all employees. The January salary will be paid in full at the end of February.
On January 2, there were rumors that “all work of Hiphi Auto has been suspended”. A blogger posted a screenshot of a forum, which claimed that “all work of Hiphi has been suspended, including stopping delivery, stopping the development of new projects, and preparing for lawsuits”. In addition, there were online rumors that on the first night of the New Year holiday, Hiphi issued an announcement to cancel employee benefits such as meal allowances, transportation allowances, and company shuttle buses.
Human Horizons stated in the statement that the original platform has deleted the post and issued a warning to the posting member. The misinterpretation of the relevant information has caused serious damage to the brand reputation of Hiphi and misled the public opinion. The company has reported to the public security department.
Human Horizons initially focused on the high-end luxury market with a price range of 600,000 to 800,000 yuan. In order to boost sales, the HiPhi Y was launched in July 2023, which is the “cheapest” model of Hiphi Auto with a guiding price of 339,000 to 459,000 yuan.
