After a year-long production hiatus, HiPhi Motors has finally welcomed its "white knight".

Last week, a Middle Eastern EV company from Lebanon established a joint venture with Human Horizons in Yancheng Economic Development Zone, Jiangsu Province. It appears that the resumption of production at HiPhi Motors is just around the corner.

Should HiPhi Motors relaunch its products, it would be the first "rejuvenated" new energy vehicle company in China.

However, it is unlikely that the revived HiPhi Motors will continue to be led by its founder, Ding Lei, in the same manner.

Middle Eastern Tycoons Arrive on the Scene

Last week, a change in corporate business registration information breathed new life into the nearly dormant HiPhi Motors.

According to Tianyancha, on May 22, Jiangsu HiPhi Motors Co., Ltd., an automobile manufacturing company with a registered capital of US$143.2665 million, was established. The investors are EV Electra Ltd. and Human Horizons, holding 69.8% and 30.2% of the shares, respectively.

Public information reveals that EV Electra, founded in 2017, is an EV company headquartered in Beirut, Lebanon. According to its official website, the company is the first Arab-Canadian EV manufacturer to launch electric vehicles, the first EV company in the Middle East and Arab world, and has operations in Canada, Italy, Germany, Turkey, and China.

It is understood that EV Electra previously launched an electric sports car named QuDS Rise, but there is no further information on whether the vehicle has gone into mass production or how many units have been sold.

Human Horizons is the parent company of HiPhi Motors. Both Jiangsu HiPhi Motors and Human Horizons are registered at No. 69, Donghuan South Road, Yancheng Economic and Technological Development Zone.

The legal representative of the new company is Jihad Mohammad. Among the seven directors, only Fu Yefei hails from HiPhi Motors, where he once served as the financial director of Human Horizons.

Last August, Human Horizons Investment applied to the court for reorganization and pre-reorganization on the grounds that its assets could not repay all debts but had reorganization value and potential.

In April this year, the court ruled on the substantive merger and reorganization of 52 companies, including Human Horizons (Jiangsu). During this period, the administrator recruited strategic investors for this merger and reorganization case.

Various signs indicate that the resumption of production at HiPhi Motors is progressing rapidly.

Recently, an environmental impact assessment report disclosed by Yancheng Economic Development Zone revealed that a factory renovation project of Yueda Kia has commenced its environmental impact assessment. This factory was previously a contract manufacturer for HiPhi Motors. The relevant images shown in the report list three models: HiPhi X, Y, and Z. This renovation and upgrade project is expected to be completed in October this year.

It is reported that EV Electra plans to invest US$1 billion to participate in the reorganization of Human Horizons and aims to secure a controlling stake. The company has pledged to provide overseas procurement orders for not less than 100,000 vehicles or US$3 billion within the next three years.

Currently, the homepage of EV Electra's official website already features three models from HiPhi Motors.

The Sudden Collapse of HiPhi Motors

The collapse of HiPhi Motors was sudden.

At the end of 2023, there were frequent unfavorable news reports about its financial distress, layoffs, and production halt, but all were promptly denied by the company's officials.

However, on the first day after the Spring Festival in 2024, HiPhi Motors directly announced the cessation of production. At that time, the company's founder, Ding Lei, appeared extremely anxious, stating that the window for self-rescue was only three months.

HiPhi Motors could only continuously seek external assistance. In May 2024, iAuto Group announced an investment of US$1 billion to help HiPhi Motors resume operations, but the plan ultimately failed to materialize.

HiPhi Motors' management personnel once appeared in the brand's Douyin live streaming room to sell goods, including steaks, sausages, and other foods. This seemingly positive move was merely a drop in the ocean for the company.

Subsequently, there were rumors that several domestic traditional OEMs were interested in investing in HiPhi Motors, but these rumors were quickly disproved.

From August 2020, when the first mass-produced model, HiPhi X, was released, to the subsequent launches of models such as HiPhi Z and HiPhi Y, within two to three years, HiPhi Motors competed for orders among a niche market of high-end and individualistic consumers with its premium brand positioning and unconventional sci-fi design.

The brand's positioning, pricing, and personalized design concept destined HiPhi Motors to struggle to achieve high sales in a short period of time. From 2021 to 2023, annual sales did not exceed 5,000 vehicles for three consecutive years.

Unable to achieve self-sufficiency in funding and without continuous capital injection, HiPhi Motors eventually ceased operations.

According to public information, as of August 31, 2024, the combined book asset total of 52 companies including Human Horizons Jiangsu was 5.983 billion yuan, with a total liability of up to 15.781 billion yuan. As of March 25 this year, creditors have applied for a total amount of creditor's rights to the provisional administrator of approximately 22.8 billion yuan, with a preliminarily reviewed and confirmed amount totaling over 10 billion yuan.

The Idealist Ding Lei

Among China's emerging automotive industry forces, HiPhi Motors is one of the few brands led by seasoned "automotive professionals." Before founding HiPhi, Ding Lei had an impressive and illustrious resume.

It was these impressive credentials that gave him full confidence in himself and HiPhi Motors. "With such experience, even a fool would succeed," he remarked.

In 1988, Ding Lei graduated from Fudan University's physics department as a graduate student and joined Shanghai Volkswagen, marking the beginning of his automotive career. Since then, his development at SAIC Group has been smooth sailing.

In 1996, he participated in the joint venture project of Shanghai GM and witnessed the entire entrepreneurial journey of this Sino-American joint venture. During his tenure as CEO of Shanghai GM, he led the company to win the Chinese auto sales championship for five consecutive years, creating the first automotive company in Chinese automotive history with annual production and sales exceeding one million vehicles.

In 2008, when Ding Lei was 45 years old, he entered the executive ranks of SAIC Group and was promoted to vice president of the company. Three years later, he was transferred to serve as the main responsible person of Shanghai Zhangjiang High-Tech Industrial Park, managing over 7,000 high-tech enterprises.

In 2013, Ding Lei turned to politics and served as the deputy district head of Pudong New Area. During this period, he led the introduction of the Tesla project. It was during this contact with Tesla that he foresaw the future direction of the automotive industry and felt the urge to start his own business.

The first person to persuade Ding Lei to venture into entrepreneurship was Jia Yueting.

In 2015, Jia Yueting launched the LeTV Super Car project and invited Ding Lei to join as a co-founder. At that time, LeTV was at its peak, with a market value exceeding 170 billion yuan.

Unexpectedly, Jia Yueting's ecological counter-reaction did not last long, and LeTV collapsed almost instantly, shattering their dreams.

Ding Lei did not abandon his entrepreneurial dream. In 2017, he founded Human Horizons and truly embarked on independent vehicle manufacturing.

At that time, Ding Lei envisioned a grand blueprint for HiPhi Motors – not merely to make cars or new energy vehicles, but to start from new energy vehicles and extend to intelligent and efficient transportation and smart cities, providing ideas for enhancing human travel in the future.

When HiPhi Motors was first introduced to the market, it challenged Tesla and Porsche. The pricing of the first model, HiPhi X, was as high as 800,000 yuan, which was undoubtedly the price ceiling for domestic cars at that time. Regarding external doubts, Ding Lei stated that he intended to set a benchmark for the Chinese automotive industry on a global scale.

In 2022, during an interview program, the host expressed concern about HiPhi's financing issues. At that time, Ding Lei assured that the company had received support from all parties and had not encountered significant financial problems. He was extremely confident in his business management abilities and believed that the company could use efficient management to slow down capital consumption.

On the spot, a guest on the show posed a pointed question, "Have you ever considered the possibility of HiPhi failing one day?" Ding Lei did not evade the question, responding, "We have made various contingency plans."