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"Whether in the special period of the past six months or on the road to the dawn of the future... HiPhi people will work hard and never give up." HiPhi Auto, which has entered the "judicial pre-reorganization", took the lead in restarting after-sales service to continue self-rescue. On August 19, the service announcement released by HiPhi Auto showed that from now until the completion of pre-reorganization and reorganization, Shanghai Yueda Intelligent Automobile Service Co., Ltd., a wholly-owned subsidiary of Jiangsu Yueda Automobile Group, is authorized to purchase HiPhi auto parts and support HiPhi auto after-sales service. "At present, the procurement of after-sales parts has started, and HiPhi Auto's after-sales service center and related cooperative outlets are gradually resuming the supply of parts." HiPhi Auto said.

With the restart of after-sales service, the car repair problems that HiPhi owners have been facing for half a year may be alleviated, and this is also a critical node for whether HiPhi can be "reborn". In the eyes of the outside world, HiPhi's authorization of a third party to restart the after-sales system can solve the problems of car owners on the one hand, and on the other hand, for HiPhi, which needs funds, it needs to prove to the capital market that it is "valuable and can be saved".

Car repairs difficult in half a year

In February this year, HiPhi Auto released the "Recent Service Operation Guarantee Announcement" (hereinafter referred to as the "Announcement"), stating that in the face of internal and external pressures and challenges, the company has made major adjustments to its daily operations since February 19, and is currently taking all possible measures to alleviate its difficulties. Subsequently, HiPhi Auto completely stopped production, and the pre-sales business of its offline direct stores was completely suspended. Despite being in the vortex of the shutdown, in the "Announcement", HiPhi Auto stated that "it will make user service operations, vehicle after-sales maintenance and other related work as the highest priority and do its best to ensure it."

However, the shutdown of the factory will inevitably affect the after-sales business that HiPhi Auto is trying hard to protect. On the Black Cat complaint platform, a HiPhi Y owner stated that after the vehicle was involved in a traffic accident, it could not be repaired due to a lack of spare parts, and the vehicle had been parked at the HiPhi after-sales service center. It is understood that due to the manufacturer's lack of spare parts, many HiPhi owners have encountered difficulties in repairing their cars, so much so that some owners have posted relevant spare parts purchase information through social platforms, purchased them on their own, and then went to the store for installation and repairs. A staff member of a HiPhi direct store revealed to the Beijing Business Daily reporter that due to the shortage of spare parts through official channels, there are indeed individual car owners who purchase spare parts on their own and go to the store for replacement and repair. "For these car owners, the store can help with the installation, but since they are not spare parts provided by the manufacturer, the store cannot provide warranty for these replacement parts."

At the same time, many businesses have also released the news that "Hiphi car parts are available". A seller in Zhengzhou revealed that the Hiphi car parts stores that are in short supply on the market have them all, and they are guaranteed to be original parts. "For example, the through-type taillights of the Hiphi Y model are priced at 5,300 yuan, and car owners can purchase them and install them in the direct-sale store." He said that the accessories can be used normally after installation, and if they cannot be used, they can be returned at any time, but warranty services cannot be provided. Beijing Business Daily reporters learned that the official price of the through-type taillights of Hiphi Y is 4,009 yuan, which means that Hiphi car owners can purchase the taillights from third-party channels for replacement without warranty, which is 1,291 yuan higher than the official price. In this regard, the staff of the above-mentioned Hiphi direct-sale store said helplessly that the store currently has pre-stocked accessories but the variety is not complete. The accessories purchased by car owners from the market are not only expensive, but also difficult to guarantee the quality. Many of them are dismantled car parts or recycled parts.

With the restart of HiPhi after-sales, the owners' car repair problems will be gradually solved. An official customer service staff of HiPhi said that although the shortage of spare parts has lasted for some time, it is now slowly recovering. Previously, each store has registered the information of owners of vehicles that need repairs, and will notify the owner to come to the store for repairs as soon as the corresponding parts arrive.

Can “pre-reorganization” save HiPhi?

While restarting after-sales services, HiPhi Auto has been actively saving itself.

In February this year, Gaohe founder Ding Lei said: "Gaohee still has three months of rescue period, and we will do our best to save the company in the next three months. At present, many companies are interested in Gaohe Automobile and want to acquire or invest in it." Subsequently, Avita, Changan, and Lifan were all rumored to be expected to cooperate with Gaohe Automobile, but there was no follow-up. In May this year, it was reported that Gaohe Automobile's parent company Human Horizons signed a comprehensive strategic cooperation agreement with iAuto. It is understood that iAuto plans to invest more than US$1 billion in the first round of special funds to support the reorganization and resumption of work and production of Human Horizons Gaohe Automobile. Subsequently, in July this year, Human Horizons applied to the People's Court of Yancheng Economic and Technological Development Zone for reorganization of the company on the grounds that its assets could not repay all debts due, but on the grounds that it had reorganization value and reorganization possibility. At the same time, it applied for pre-reorganization.

In August this year, the National Enterprise Bankruptcy and Reorganization Case Information Network showed that the People's Court of Yancheng Economic and Technological Development Zone issued a "Decision" to accept the pre-reorganization application of Human Horizons. The People's Court of Yancheng Economic and Technological Development Zone believes that Human Horizons' business involves the research and development and production of new energy vehicles, autonomous driving, cloud computing, etc. The new energy vehicle industry in which it is located has broad prospects. Pre-reorganization is conducive to improving the efficiency of corporate reorganization, reducing corporate reorganization costs, and giving full play to the function of the reorganization system to save distressed enterprises, better protecting the legitimate rights and interests of creditors, and the debtor has pre-reorganization value and meets the pre-reorganization conditions.

It is understood that pre-reorganization is a quasi-judicial procedure. Whether a company needs to undergo pre-reorganization is subject to application by the company or creditors and is decided by the court. Zhao Zhanling, a lawyer at Beijing Jiawei Law Firm, said that during the pre-reorganization stage, the company, investors and creditors negotiate various solutions to the company's problems. This is to save valuable troubled companies as soon as possible and to safeguard the diversified interests of debtors, creditors and related stakeholders.

After entering the judicial pre-reorganization, HiPhi Auto resumed after-sales service, which is considered by the outside world to be part of HiPhi Auto's comprehensive self-rescue plan. In fact, in February this year, HiPhi said that it would work with its strategic partner, Yancheng Yueda Intelligent Innovation Energy Automobile Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Jiangsu Yueda Group, to provide users with after-sales service guarantees. Cui Dongshu, Secretary General of the Passenger Car Market Information Joint Branch of the China Automobile Dealers Association, believes that HiPhi Auto's approach is to ensure that car owners can use and repair their cars, paving the way for their return to the market in the future; on the other hand, it also provides confidence to the capital market and proves to the outside world that HiPhi Auto still has value.

Regarding judicial pre-reorganization, HiPhi Auto stated that judicial pre-reorganization is an important turning point to gradually resolve HiPhi Auto’s current difficulties. It is also a key step for the government, courts, shareholders, and potential investors to recognize the value of HiPhi Auto, and to push Human Horizons to resolve creditor issues under the intervention of judicial effectiveness, and to form a restructuring and regeneration plan that is in the common interests of all parties as soon as possible.

Beijing Business Daily reporter Liu Yang and Liu Xiaomeng