Recently, some media reported that employees of GAC's new energy vehicle brand Hechuang Automobile pulled banners to defend their rights, demanding that the company return the investment and pay arrears of wages. This incident has aroused widespread attention in the industry, and it has also brought to the surface the business difficulties of Hechuang Automobile.
It is understood that the employees who defended their rights this time are mainly from the R&D, sales and other departments of Hechuang Automobile. They said that the company began to have operational problems in the second half of last year, and often owed employees wages and bonuses. In addition, the company also requires employees to make mandatory co-investments, but now the company refuses to refund the co-investments. The activists also revealed that company insiders said that the company would not guarantee the payment of wages from July, which made the employees very uneasy, so they decided to stand up for their rights.
Founded in 2018, Hechuang Auto was jointly founded by GAC Group and NIO. In recent years, with the intensification of competition in the new energy vehicle market, the sales volume of Hechuang Automobile has been tepid. In 2023, the sales volume of Hechuang Automobile will only be more than 20,000 units, far lower than its original expectations. In order to turn the situation around, Hechuang Automobile has launched a number of new models and increased marketing investment. However, these measures had little effect, and the company's losses continued to grow.
Under the pressure of business difficulties, a series of labor disputes began to arise in Hechuang Automobile. In July last year, Hechuang Automobile started layoffs, causing dissatisfaction among employees. In March this year, it was revealed that Hechuang Automobile required all employees to sink stores to sell cars, and deducted wages on the grounds of failing to complete performance.
This employee rights protection incident once again exposed the serious problems of Hechuang Automobile in labor relations. If the company fails to properly resolve the employees' demands, it may lead to greater labor disputes and have a more serious impact on the company's operations.
The incident of Hechuang Automobile has also sounded the alarm for other new energy vehicle companies. The new energy vehicle market is highly competitive, and if car companies want to succeed, they not only need excellent products and technologies, but also need to establish good labor-management relations. Only by respecting the rights and interests of employees can we win the trust and support of employees, so as to achieve the sustainable development of enterprises.