Earlier today, we shared the sad story about the bankruptcy of the Chinese EV manufacturer WM Motor. If that brand sounds familiar, that’s because that was the brand that entered our market in July 2022 under the Transnational Diversified Group. We even test-drove the company’s all-electric crossover, the Weltmeister W5.
I’ll be honest: From the get-go, I had serious doubts about this brand. Not only because it was an unheard-of Chinese brand, but also because I could not picture a sustainable strategy for our market. That and the issue of funding.
If you missed the news earlier, we enumerated the reasons for the bankruptcy:
Some of the factors influencing its decision are the sluggish recovery of the Chinese economy after COVID-19, fluctuating prices of raw materials, and struggles in getting more capital.
As expected, the Philippine distributor has now issued a statement:
While the message assures customers of “excellent after-sales service for all existing WM Motor customers,” I don’t think this is confidence-inspiring. And that is assuming that the distributor managed to persuade Filipino buyers to fork out P2,548,000 for the electric W5 in the first place.
According to marketing manager Kristoff Arcega, this is not actually the finish line for WM Motor. “(We’re) still looking for investors,” he told me. “Since nag-file for bankruptcy, may protection sila ngayon against sa mga liabilites nila especially sa suppliers, so may time to reorganize.”
Anyway, Arcega is hopeful for their company’s future. “More brands to come pa. WM lang yung affected. Yung Hongqi is stable lalo na kasi under China FAW Group sila. WM kasi is independent na startup company.”
So, did you buy a WM car?
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