Car enterprises apply for bankruptcy reorganization, and car owners can only suffer "dumb losses"?

People's Livelihood Survey Bureau

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China News Online, October 17 (Ge Cheng, a reporter from China News Finance and Economics) The 4S store had no parts, no place to repair the fault, and the car machine stopped running for a while... In recent days, perhaps no one is more upset than the owner of Weima. The enterprise applied for bankruptcy reorganization, but the owner suffered. Who should we talk to?

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Weima applied for bankruptcy reorganization, and the owner was foolish

According to the information of the National Enterprise Bankruptcy Reorganization Case Information Network, Weima Auto Technology Group Co., Ltd. has applied for bankruptcy reorganization. The handling court is Shanghai Third Intermediate People's Court, and the public case number is (2023) Hu 03 Po Shen No. 1062.

In response to the above information, Weima Motors' official Wechat House once issued a "Notice", saying that the company still has the value of salvation, and hopes to actively self rescue by adjusting the corporate strategy, solving the financial debt problem, and obtaining investors' participation in restructuring and development. In addition, the Shanghai Third Intermediate People's Court accepted Weima's application for pre reorganization on October 7.

The application for bankruptcy reorganization of enterprises directly affects the owners of Weima.

The owner Liu Ze (not his real name) revealed in an interview with Zhongxin Finance that his Weima EX5 was purchased in 2020. Although it has only been open for three years, he has never been relieved. "The 4S store had no parts, and there was no place to repair the fault. After the car company announced bankruptcy and reorganization, the network function stopped for a while."

A row of fault lamps are lit on the instrument panel. Respondents provide pictures.

In addition, according to the feedback of many Weima car owners, from the beginning of 2023, Weima supporting software had frequent failures such as "no connection, abnormal network". At the beginning of the year, an owner left a message at the customer service office of Weima saying, "Two days after the recovery, the 'Weima Smart Line' has failed again." Previously, Weima customer service had used hacker attacks, server updates, version upgrades and other reasons to explain the above failure.

An engineer engaged in vehicle machine research and development told the reporter that, unlike traditional vehicle enterprises, the intelligent functions of some "new car making forces" models are not integrated locally. "For example, voice recognition and remote control rely on cloud services. Once the server is shut down, the corresponding networking services will disappear."

However, on the 13th, Weima Auto official micro blog replied, "At present, Weima Auto system has returned to normal, and we apologize for the inconvenience caused to you!"

Liu Ze said that his car engine function has been temporarily restored.

On the 13th, Liu Ze's Weima locomotive function was temporarily restored. Respondents provide pictures.

The biggest trouble: lack of parts and maintenance

"Although the car has temporarily recovered, the real trouble is the lack of parts and the lack of place for maintenance." Liu Ze said frankly about his Weima EX5 that the car is not functional, which has limited impact on him.

"This year I only got compulsory traffic insurance, not because the insurance company didn't offer commercial insurance, but because commercial insurance was useless, and the 4S store didn't have any parts! Now I'm driving carefully, and I don't dare to bump. I can't find parts everywhere, and the car is shaking when I get close for fear of being damaged." He said helplessly.

In response to the situation reported by the owner, the reporter has repeatedly called Weima customer service hotline, but it has not been connected, and no reply has been received from Weima.

For discontinued or niche models, it is also a consensus in the industry that the supply of parts is not timely and the maintenance cycle is long. A maintenance technician of an auto chain maintenance brand told Zhongxin Finance, "For cars with large sales, parts can be transferred from the nearby large warehouse within 30 minutes at the earliest, while for some models that are out of production, a part may not be available for several months."

After learning that the production of Weima EX5 has stopped, Liu Ze said that he did not expect to have a comprehensive maintenance for this car. Only go to a third-party repair shop to have a simple look. I can barely drive it. Once it is broken and no parts can be found, it may be completely "lying down".

The data shows that from 2020 to 2022, the annual sales of Weima will be 22500, 44100 and 29400 respectively. This means that nearly 100000 car owners, like Liu Ze, are also facing difficulties in repair and maintenance. With Weima Automobile applying for bankruptcy and reorganization, it may be difficult to find solutions to the above problems in the short term.

Screenshot of Weima Auto's Notification Letter.

Lawyer: Weima is still qualified to bear civil liability

Looking at his Wima EX5, Liu Ze's biggest wish is that someone can accept the offer. "I have also found several second-hand car dealers before. At that time, they were less than three years old. New energy vehicles were not easy to sell. It was said that they were Weima, but no one dared to accept them."

Although Weima Motor emphasized in the Letter of Notification that it hopes to solve the financial debt problem by adjusting the corporate strategy, and obtain investors' participation in restructuring and development to actively save themselves. However, for car owners, the most urgent question at present is who will undertake a series of problems such as car maintenance in the future?

Yan Bing, a senior partner of Jiuhe Law Firm, told Zhongxin Finance that although Weima applied for bankruptcy reorganization, it does not mean that the enterprise has gone bankrupt. Whether in bankruptcy proceedings or in reorganization proceedings, "Weima", a civil subject, is still alive and legally qualified to bear civil liability.

Yan Bing said that the automobile industry has long established the general rules. After the production of an automobile product is stopped, the supply of accessories should not be less than ten years. There are also corresponding provisions in the three guarantees for automobiles to clarify this. In fact, the problem of missing parts is similar to the legal consequences of the failure of vehicle and machine functions. The subject of legal liability is still Weima Motor.

However, he also pointed out that enterprises on the verge of bankruptcy may be objectively unable to fulfill their responsibilities, so in fact, if Weima is unable to continue to supply accessories, then the final loss can only be paid by consumers. This is also the inevitable pain for "new forces of car building" to re integrate the market from springing up to the survival of the fittest.

"In the current situation of this brand, it is impossible to sell second-hand products, and I don't know what to do in the future," said Liu Ze. (End)

key word: Goodway Owner Fault lamp Notification Letter Used car dealer