Aiways, a new car-making force that has been silent for a long time, has recently come out with new news. Reuters reported that the company has shifted its focus to Europe and signed a business combination agreement with a U.S. special purpose acquisition company.
The agreement with Aiways is Hudson Acquisition l Corp., a NASDAQ-listed SPAC company that will supply electric vehicles to the European market through a business combination with Aiways Automobile Europe GmbH.
This also means that Aiways, which is about to "disappear" in China, may directly abandon the Chinese market and turn its attention overseas. It is reported that the merger transaction is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
Over the past few months, Aiways has been in talks with investors to restart production. At the beginning of this year, some domestic media revealed that the company was about to resume work and production, and mainly focused on overseas markets, but Aiways did not reply to this.
At present, the deal between Aiways and SPAC is very crucial, and it is the lifeline of whether Aiways can be "resurrected". Aiways, which halted production at its Shangrao plant last summer, has since been on the verge of bankruptcy, and the Shanghai company has been listed as a dishonest person subject to execution after it filed for bankruptcy review.
Before it went bankrupt, Aiways had been selling its U5 and U6 models in the European market. In order to make a comeback and regain a foothold in overseas markets, Aiways already has existing products and operational frameworks overseas, although more capital is needed to resume production.
Aiways' predicament in the past two years is the epitome of the new second-tier car-making forces, and from the current fierce competition in China, turning overseas may be the only choice for Aiways.
"The new entity will have a new strategic positioning to capitalise on our reins and resources in the European EV market." Alexander Klose, managing director of Aiways Europe, said in a statement this week.
A source familiar with Aiways' near-term plans said that Aiways will be headquartered in Europe and will be responsible for sales, marketing and finance, while manufacturing, procurement and R&D will be mainly carried out in China.
It is worth mentioning that, unlike other new EV manufacturers, Aiways has regarded the overseas market as one of its important territories since its establishment.
As early as May 2020, the company's cars were exported to France for the first time, and later successfully opened up more than ten countries such as Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Israel, Italy, Switzerland, Spain, Portugal, and Sweden.
Although the number of deliveries is not much, even in 2022, when the new crown epidemic is at the peak, Aiways' overseas business has not stopped. The company has accumulated some overseas sales experience in the early stage, and if it focuses on the European market in the short term, it may find a new way out in the thorns.
In the past few years, Aiways' overseas sales channels have adopted a sub-regional agent model, including Belgium's Cardoen Group, Denmark's Andersen Motors, Israel's AutoChen and other companies have worked closely with it.
It is not yet known what model Aiways will use to sell overseas after the "rebirth", but some overseas media quoted insiders as saying that Aiways has no plans to stay in the Chinese market, and its current European headquarters is located in Germany, which will also become the focus of the company's European sales.
In the early days of Aiways' founding, founder Fu Qiang bluntly said that "the foreign new energy market is not as fierce as the domestic competition, and the acceptance of new energy vehicles is also higher", and positioned Aiways as a new car-making company with "export business higher than domestic sales".
In terms of technical routes, Aiways does not focus on pure electric or hybrid vehicles like its rivals, but takes a unique path and takes the fuel cell route.
Aiways, which "does not take the usual path", soon lost its combat effectiveness in the involuted domestic market. Facing the reshuffle of the industry and being squeezed to the brink of bankruptcy, Aiways has only this way out to save itself - a corner of safety and focusing on Europe.
At the beginning of 2023, Aiways will be riddled with negative news, and Tianyancha risk reminders will pop up at any time with information such as the company's executor, consumption restriction order, and dishonest executor.
Even in April this year, the China Enforcement Information Disclosure Network still has the latest news of the company: Aiways (Shanghai) Co., Ltd. has added information on the person subject to enforcement, the subject of enforcement is 13.99 million, and the enforcement court is the Shanghai Yangpu District People's Court.