WM Motor said earlier this month that it is in the process of settling its debts in an orderly manner and is actively pushing ahead with plans to sell NEVs overseas.
(Image credit: WM Motor)
In a surprising move, WM Motor, a Chinese electric vehicle (EV) startup that is facing ongoing financial woes, has embarked on an effort to expand into overseas markets.
WM Motor shared an image on Weibo yesterday showing dozens of the company's new vehicles parked next to a cargo ship.
"Fully assembled and ready to go," WM Motor's Weibo read, without providing further details.
"Setting off to see the sea together!" Freeman Shen, the company's founder, chairman, and CEO, wrote in a retweet of the Weibo post, suggesting that the vehicle would be shipped to overseas markets.
On July 4, WM Motor said in a Weibo post that the company, under Shen's leadership, was settling its debts in an orderly manner and was actively pushing forward with plans to sell new energy vehicles (NEVs) overseas.
WM Motor is expected to resume work and production in the near future and resume normal operations, it said at the time.
WM Motor is one of the earliest EV startups in China, where it was once known alongside Nio, Xpeng and Li Auto.
In 2019-2021, WM Motor's car sales were 12,799, 21,937, and 44,152 respectively, according to its previous prospectuses for Hong Kong listing.
The company had been publishing monthly sales figures in 2020 and after 2021 the company did not publish the figures as its sales decline, which has put the company under financial pressure.
On November 21, 2022, an internal all-employee letter from Shen listed initiatives to alleviate the financial pressure, including a 50 percent pay cut for management with ranks of M4 and above, and a 30 percent pay cut for general employees.
On December 24, some local media reported that a number of WM Motor's stores in Shanghai had closed, down from around 20 to 12 or so.
In February, local media reported that WM Motor had stopped paying salaries to all of its employees and that its factories in Huanggang, Hubei and Wenzhou, Zhejiang stopped production.
Financially troubled WM Motor sees about half of its Shanghai stores close, report says
