Is Jiyue making a comeback? You have to ask Tong Liya first.
"Is Jiyue coming back to life?"
On November 25th, Jiyue's WeChat official account released a pre - reorganization announcement, stating that it had submitted a pre - reorganization application to the Third Intermediate People's Court of Shanghai and the application was officially accepted on November 21st. Jiyue said that the company initiated the pre - reorganization process aiming to introduce new strategic investors, revitalize existing assets and resources, maintain the value of assets, and safeguard the after - sales rights and interests of users.
When the author shared the content released on Jiyue's WeChat official account with a Jiyue car owner friend, Xiao Chen, he asked back in surprise. His words were filled with some shock, and of course, more disbelief.
Over the past year or so, this Jiyue car owner friend has experienced the ups and downs after buying the Jiyue 07. At first, he highly praised the car's intelligent driving assistance system. Then, at the end of 2024, Jiyue suddenly collapsed. Subsequently, there were multiple car - machine malfunctions during the car - using process, and he was constantly disappointed by false rumors of Jiyue's revival. When the author sent him this latest news about Jiyue, he said that he really didn't dare to believe it anymore and said, "Please have mercy. I'm a Jiyue car owner. I've been through enough. Please don't tease me."
Indeed, this announcement released by Jiyue doesn't mean that Jiyue will definitely come back to life. Instead, it hopes that the court can help introduce new investors (buyers). Before that, it needs to sort out its debt and assets clearly so that investors will dare to take over.
Just like the attitude shown by this Jiyue car owner, the road to Jiyue's revival is not optimistic. Because many failed new - energy vehicle startups have tried this "pre - reorganization application" process. They just think they can be "rescued" before completely disappearing. However, from the results, few failed new - energy vehicle startups can introduce new investors in this situation.
In other words, Jiyue's attempt to come back to life is doomed to be a difficult redemption with slim chances.
Jiyue's Sudden Collapse and Car Owners in Trouble
On December 12th, 2024, hundreds of employees went to Jiyue's automobile headquarters. They were very emotional and demanded salaries and social insurance from Xia Yiping, asking him to give an explanation. Some people were worried that the CEO would run away with the money, and some even shouted, "Take out your savings to pay for our social insurance."
Although Xia Yiping said that "he had been working hard to solve the problem and had been making efforts until the last moment." However, the employees didn't buy it and demanded that Xia Yiping hand over his passport. It was like a scene where he fled and they chased, and he had nowhere to escape.
Meanwhile, on the background wall during Xia Yiping's speech, there was a slogan that read, "In the history of China's intelligent automobiles, every Jiyue person's name will surely be recorded." Facing the rumors of Jiyue's collapse and the employees' gathering to demand salaries, the slogan seemed extremely ironic.
Later, although Jiyue solved the social insurance and salaries of some employees, it couldn't avoid the fate of shutting down. What was left was a brand that once had the opportunity to make a mark in the history of China's intelligent automobiles, a financial hole of 7 billion yuan, more than 2 billion yuan in arrears to suppliers, and more than 10,000 confused car owners. Oh, and some curious netizens also asked, "Has the money owed to Tong Liya been repaid?" After all, Tong Liya once served as the tasting officer for the Jiyue 07 booth.
Speaking of which, the car owner Xiao Chen at the beginning is one of these more than 10,000 car owners. Over the past year or so, these car owners not only have to face the dilemma of being "abandoned" by the brand but also the reality of fruitless after - sales service.
During the Spring Festival in 2025, Ms. Meng, a Jiyue 01 car owner in Liuzhou, Guangxi, said that her car had an accident. Since there was no after - sales service point in her area, although she contacted an authorized body - repair center in Nanning through the official customer service for repairs, the center refused her because there were no spare parts for after - sales service. Ms. Meng said, "I feel like I've been abandoned."
Difficulty in car repair is just the tip of the iceberg of the difficulties faced by Jiyue car owners.
Jiyue car owners once jointly issued an open letter, listing the situations of damaged rights and interests and their demands. These included that services such as the promised lifetime free charging, lifetime free data, OTA upgrades, and lifetime warranty at the time of car purchase could no longer be fulfilled. "The promise of lifetime warranty has become empty talk." Many car owners revealed that after the representatives of Jiyue car owners negotiated with the relevant person - in - charge of Jidu, Geely, etc., the warranty had been reduced to the national minimum standard of "four - year warranty for the whole vehicle and eight - year warranty for the three - electric systems with a mileage limit of 200,000 kilometers."
If the damage to rights and interests is the last concession of consumers, then car - machine malfunctions are a gap that constantly threatens the safety of consumers' lives.
On the evening of November 23rd, 2025, many Jiyue car owners reported that Jiyue cars suddenly had network malfunctions. The mobile app showed that the vehicles were in an "off - line" state, which made it impossible for users to use key functions such as remote control.
"This isn't the first time the Jiyue app has let us down!" A car owner complained in the Jiyue car owners' group. Many car owners reported similar problems in July this year. At that time, not only did the app go off - line, but even the Bluetooth key couldn't be used.
It's Hard for Failed New - Energy Vehicle Startups to Stand Up Again
After Jiyue's sudden collapse, although it was widely criticized, it didn't completely give up.
For example, regarding the network malfunction reported by car owners a few days ago, Jiyue's official Weibo said that the technical team had immediately launched an emergency response mechanism and was fully engaged in problem - checking and repair work. The next morning, the official responded again, saying, "The relevant problems have been repaired. In the future, we will continuously optimize the system stability and fully guarantee the users' car - using experience."
Moreover, as early as April this year, the news that "Jiyue probably won't go bankrupt" had stirred up the market. The board of directors approved the reorganization, 3 - 4 potential investors got involved, and the brand was going to change its name and return to the Geely system, which brought a dramatic turn to this seemingly settled defeat.
It can be said that until December 25th when it announced the submission of the pre - reorganization application, Jiyue had been preparing to stand up again. However, the market is cruel. The road to revival for any failed new - energy vehicle startup is full of thorns. This is the case for Jiyue, as well as for WM Motor, HiPhi, etc. before.
For Jiyue, first of all, its huge debt hole of up to 7 billion yuan is enough to scare away any potential buyers. The profit margin of China's automobile industry in 2025 is not optimistic, and capital's patience with new - energy vehicle startups is almost exhausted. Moreover, during Jiyue's shutdown period, the intelligent driving assistance technology has gone through multiple iterations. Huawei ADS, XPeng XNGP, NIO NOP +, etc. are all making rapid progress, while Jiyue's intelligent driving system is falling behind the industry leaders due to the lack of continuous investment.
More importantly, Jiyue's brand trust has collapsed.
From "selling cars at a loss" to employees' siege, Jiyue's brand image has been severely damaged. Even if the reorganization is successful, Jiyue will face a comprehensive trust crisis: suppliers dare not accept orders for fear of being owed money again; dealers are reluctant to cooperate for fear of repeating the same mistakes; consumers dare not buy cars for fear of having no after - sales service. This systematic distrust cannot be solved by a few statements or several OTA upgrades.
On the other hand, Jiyue is not the only failed new - energy vehicle startup trying to "come back to life." In the second half of 2025, failed new - energy vehicle startups collectively sounded the horn of restart.
In July, WM Motor was the first to announce the resumption of production capacity for some models, and Jiyue also released a signal of restarting production capacity at the same time. In August, Nezha went a step further and publicly launched the recruitment of reorganization investors. However, from WM Motor's mediocre market response after resuming production capacity to Jiyue and Nezha being deeply involved in negative controversies, the restart road of failed new - energy vehicle startups is full of thorns.
These enterprises are eager to release signals of revival on one hand, while being troubled by problems such as debt, reputation, and operation on the other hand. They neither present core competitiveness that can convince the market nor completely solve the historical problems.
In 2025, the Matthew effect in the new - energy vehicle market has become more and more obvious. BYD and Tesla have gobbled up 60% of the market share, players like NIO, XPeng, and Li Auto are competing for 30%, and tail - end enterprises are huddled in the remaining 10%. Economies of scale and brand awareness have become insurmountable barriers, and those who withdraw will never regain the opportunity. WM Motor aims for an annual production of 100,000 vehicles, which is like an ant trying to shake a tree against BYD's monthly sales of over 400,000 vehicles.
Even if these car enterprises win a revival competition, if they can't cross the "10,000 - unit monthly sales" or even "20,000 - unit monthly sales" line of life and death within 12 months, they will probably withdraw from the market for the second time, which may be more complete than the first elimination. So, are Jiyue and other enterprises really ready to face the cruelty of the market again?
This article is from the WeChat official account "Automobile Commune" (ID: iAUTO2010), author: Li Chen'ai. It is published by 36Kr with authorization.