Beware of the "performative revival" of new car-making forces.

Recently, two new players in the car - making industry that had been quiet for a long time have once again caught the wide - spread attention of the industry.

Firstly, there are rumors in the industry that Nezha Automobile is about to "come back to life". Shanzi High - tech is promoting the restructuring with Hozon New Energy, the parent company of Nezha Automobile. It is possible that the handover and clearance of Nezha Automobile will be completed in October this year. After the news came out, the stock price of Shanzi High - tech kept hitting the daily limit.

Secondly, after a two - year hiatus, the WeChat official account of WM Motor suddenly released the "White Paper to Suppliers", stating that Shenzhen Xiangfei Automobile Sales Co., Ltd. has taken over four WM Motor companies. According to the reorganization plan approved by the court, the company is promoting the resumption of mass production of WM EX5 and E5 models.

In response, there are many doubts in the industry.

Two years ago, WM Motor applied for bankruptcy reorganization. Its total liabilities reached as high as 26 billion yuan, seriously insolvent, leaving 100,000 car owners with no after - sales service. Now, the overall product strength of WM EX5 and E5 has seriously fallen behind. It plans to reach one million in sales volume in five years. The difficulty of its "comeback" is obvious.

The situation of Nezha Automobile is even more surreal.

Currently, Nezha Automobile only has 15 million yuan in its account, with a total debt of 26.5 billion yuan. Shanzi High - tech has an asset - liability ratio as high as 85% and an accumulated loss of 13 billion yuan. Judging from the basic business situation, Shanzi High - tech, which is already struggling, is still trying to help Nezha Automobile. This scene really puzzles onlookers.

Public information shows that Shanzi High - tech has been making losses for seven consecutive years and has been on the verge of delisting this year. At this critical stage of the "delisting defense battle", with no sign of victory yet, Shanzi High - tech is still walking on a tightrope. Can it really rescue Nezha Automobile from its plight and take it under its wing at this moment?

The "Car - Making Dream" of a Real - Estate Leader

Shanzi High - tech, fully named Shanzi High - tech Co., Ltd., was formerly known as Yinyi Co., Ltd. Yinyi Co., Ltd. was once a leading real - estate enterprise in Ningbo, and its founder was Xiong Xuqiang, the once - famous richest man in Ningbo.

In 1994, during the golden rising period of China's real - estate industry, Xiong Xuqiang was optimistic about the development potential of the real - estate track and founded Yinyi Group. Before that, Xiong Xuqiang was the general manager of Ningbo Canned Food Factory. He took over the company when it was on the verge of collapse and turned it around.

After the Asian financial crisis, there were a large number of "unfinished buildings" in the real - estate market. In the next ten years, Yinyi Group bought a large number of unfinished buildings at low prices, including office buildings, commercial plazas, and residential buildings. It renovated and revitalized these buildings, achieving rapid company development.

In 2011, at the height of his success, Xiong Xuqiang successfully listed the real - estate business on the capital market by back - door listing through ST Langguang (Langguang Technology). In 2018, with a fortune of 29.5 billion yuan, he ranked 95th on the "Hurun Rich List" and became the richest man in Ningbo. Yinyi Group also owned three A - share listed companies, namely Yinyi Co., Ltd., Hechi Chemical Industry, and Kangqiang Electronics, with more than 16,000 employees at home and abroad.

After the listing of Yinyi Group, Xiong Xuqiang realized that the peak of the real - estate industry had passed. He believed that the company should stop expanding, accelerate transformation, and enter the capital market. Xiong Xuqiang thought that the automobile track had broad prospects and could become the "second value curve" for the company's development.

In 2016, the board of directors of Yinyi Group determined the strategic plan to enter the high - end manufacturing industry. It hoped to find a new growth engine by acquiring high - end manufacturing enterprises, especially those in the promising automobile manufacturing industry. In those years, through the acquisition of enterprises such as Ningbo Haosheng and Dongfang Yisheng, Yinyi Group gradually entered the field of automobile parts manufacturing, and its automobile business map continued to expand.

The ideal is plump, but the reality is skinny.

It's a big gap between different industries. After several years of operation, Xiong Xuqiang quickly saw the cruel side of the manufacturing industry. Yinyi's automobile parts business failed to bring new growth. Instead, the overall performance of the group further deteriorated. Unable to hold on to the real - estate base, combined with aggressive cross - border acquisitions and the lack of stamina in the automobile sector, the performance of Yinyi Group got worse and worse.

In 2022, after years of reorganization with no sign of hope, Yinyi Group finally got a new leader. The actual controller changed from Xiong Xuqiang to Ye Ji, a post - 80s Zhejiang businessman.

At this point, Ye Ji took over Yinyi Co., Ltd., the core asset of Yinyi Group. The glory of the "Yinyi System" that Xiong Xuqiang had built for many years has faded, and there have been many changes at the strategic level. In 2022, Yinyi Co., Ltd. was renamed "Shanzi Co., Ltd." and then "Shanzi High - tech", transforming from a real - estate enterprise into a technology - based enterprise integrating the R & D, production, and sales of new - energy vehicles.

I believe many readers are familiar with the following story.

Ye Ji once tried to participate in the reorganization of Zhidou Automobile with 400 million yuan and officially announced an investment of 260 million yuan to buy a partial stake in Xiaolinggou Chuxing, but both attempts ended without success. At the end of 2023, Shanzi High - tech invested in establishing Heilongjiang Yunfeng Automobile. At that time, it planned to build a production base in Harbin. The project implementation period was as long as 10 years, and the expected annual production capacity was no less than 120,000 vehicles.

In 2023, a subsidiary of Shanzi High - tech acquired 90% of the equity of Xingtai Longgang through public listing. The main asset of the latter is Hebei Hongxing Automobile. Thus, Shanzi High - tech indirectly obtained the production qualification for complete vehicles (fuel vehicles and new - energy vehicles).

A Show or a Real Gamble?

There are rumors that Shanzi High - tech is making rapid progress in integrating Nezha Automobile. During October, the original management of Nezha Automobile will complete the handover and clearance, and the Shanzi High - tech team will officially take over.

However, a relevant person in charge of Shanzi High - tech said that although the company has participated in the bankruptcy reorganization of Hozon New Energy, it is still uncertain whether it will become the final investor.

Although the official response is somewhat vague, in September this year, Guangdong Yuecai Trust Co., Ltd. issued a loan of up to 100 million yuan to Shanzi High - tech. Nanjing Bangqi Automatic Transmission Co., Ltd., a wholly - owned subsidiary of Shanzi High - tech, is the co - borrower and provides mortgage guarantee with the land use right and above - ground buildings of its industrial land.

Although the loan announcement does not specify the use of the funds, it is not excluded that the money is for the reorganization of Nezha Automobile.

In the second half of this year, Zhu Renjie, a former core mass - production figure at Tesla, officially joined Shanzi High - tech and became the CEO of its wholly - owned subsidiary, Shanzi Youqian Automobile. He also serves as the vice - president of Shanzi High - tech. It is reported that Zhu Renjie will be in charge of the new - energy vehicle business at Shanzi High - tech, laying a management foundation for the implementation of the new car - making project.

On the other hand, Shanzi Youqian Automobile has also signed a cooperation agreement with Tmall. The two parties agreed to promote the development and production of the first model V17 of Shanzi Youqian from 2025 to 2026 and jointly build an exclusive online sales channel on Tmall.

A series of actions, such as reorganizing new players in the car - making industry, recruiting talents to form a team, reaching cooperation agreements with channels, and getting loans, all point in the same direction. That is, Shanzi High - tech, which is in a difficult situation, still wants to save itself and still regards the automobile business as its last straw.

As is well - known in the industry, car - making is extremely capital - intensive. Even Li Bin, the founder of NIO, once said frankly, "I knew car - making was money - burning, but I didn't expect it to be this money - burning!" Even billions of funds are often only enough to cross the threshold of car - making.

In terms of financial strength, Nezha Automobile has become a "hot potato". Compared with well - known investment institutions and large industry players, Shanzi High - tech's financial resources are obviously inferior.

Even with loans from institutions such as Yuecai Trust, these loans are just a drop in the bucket compared with the funds needed to rescue Nezha Automobile and operate a new car - making enterprise in the long term. Debt issues, resuming production, and subsequent R & D investment are all real "money - burning pits". It is difficult to revitalize the assets, and it may even further drag down Shanzi High - tech's cash flow and increase its own debt and losses.

On the other hand, although Shanzi High - tech has some accumulation and layout in the automobile supply - chain field, looking at its trajectory in the past decade, it has mainly focused on the traditional parts manufacturing of fuel vehicles, with limited involvement in the intelligent and new - energy - related fields. To reorganize Nezha Automobile, Shanzi High - tech has limited experience in industrial synergy and lacks experience in the design, manufacturing, and market sales of new - energy vehicles.

When Shanzi High - tech re - enters the vision of the automobile circle, Ye Ji's current situation has also attracted much attention. However, public information shows that Ye Ji has been listed as an executor and restricted from high - end consumption several times in the past few years. Especially since 2020, he has been listed as an executor up to ten times.

This scene seems familiar.

Just when WM Motor officially announced its "comeback" and outlined its development plan for the next five years, Shen Hui, the founder of WM Motor, is still in a mysterious "missing" state. According to insiders, Shen Hui is still overseas, and his family has also moved to the United States.

At its peak, Shanzi High - tech tried to reorganize automobile companies or projects, but either gave up halfway or ended without success. As the leader, Ye Ji must have a deep understanding of the difficulty of operating in the automobile manufacturing industry. Now that the industry is in a reshuffle period, getting involved with Nezha Automobile again, is it a long - term gamble or a short - term expedient measure at the capital level?

This article is from the WeChat official account "Automobile Commune" (ID: iAUTO2010). The author is Boluomi. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.