How can we say that a new powerful car company is gone? Just late the day before yesterday, Jiyue Automobile, which is backed by its two big brothers, Baidu and Geely, suddenly issued a letter to all employees, saying that the company had encountered difficulties and would enter the "Entrepreneurship 2.0 stage." In addition to the confused faces of thousands of employees, the tens of thousands of Jiyue car owners also felt very uncomfortable.


There is a colleague in our editorial department who was torn between Ji Krypton, Weilai and Ji Yue for a long time. He finally decided on Ji Yue 07 the night before yesterday. He originally planned to pick up the car on the 20th, with a deposit of 5,000, and he would be able to join the Chinese army in 1949.

The official said that normal arrangements can be made to pick up the car, but other sales online said that the deposit will be refunded. God knows what will happen in the end.


In fact, as a prospective car owner, the most he can do is to give up the 5,000 deposit. But for those real car owners who have already taken delivery of the car, the loss will be huge.

First of all, due to the collapse of the official price system, insurance companies are likely to refuse to insure car damage insurance (three insurances will not be affected), and car owners need to be careful when driving. The second is maintenance. This is because Ji Yue and Geely Group's Ji Krypton, Lynk & Co, and Galaxy models are on the same platform and have common parts. Minor repairs should not be a big problem, but for major accidents, because you can't buy car damage insurance, the only two options are repairing the car yourself with heavy bleeding or scrapping it on the spot.

EvenWhat's terrible is that those intelligent functions that were trumpeted at the press conference have now become a crisis hanging over the heads of car owners.

All smart things must be connected to the Internet, but China Mobile has stepped forward to collect debts from Jidu (approximately equal to Jiyue). It is hard to say whether Jiyue car owners will be able to use various Internet of Vehicles services in the future. After all, when our mobile phones are in arrears, China Mobile cuts off the Internet faster than anyone else.
For example, ASD smart driving, Wen Xin Yiyan dialogue large model, SIMO intelligent assistant, OTA upgrade, the use of these functions cannot be separated from the Internet. At present, some car owners have revealed on a red book that the ASD function has been limited.

Before the company can operate normally, or before the salaries of resigned employees are paid, the OTA issue is basically out of the question. It is recommended that all car owners also upgrade to the existing stable version.
The mobile phone Bluetooth key on the App may also be logged out due to subsequent disconnection, so if you are a car owner, remember to match your physical key as soon as possible. Secondly, the most critical emergency SOS function may also fail... which will affect safety.

In short, there is a high probability that you can only drive this car as a "single motorcycle" in the future...

This reminded Brother Neck of the WM Motor that collapsed in October last year. At that time, WM focused on three issues:The Bluetooth key and remote control functions of the mobile phone are invalid, the mobile app community is down, and some car app content cannot be loaded.
The reason for this is that in 2017, WM Motor handed over its TSP platform, EV monitoring platform, mobile APP and operation and maintenance services to the Internet of Vehicles service provider Siruntianlang.

TSP (Telematics Service Provider), also called a car remote service provider, is a data transfer station between the car and the external network, similar to a signal base station. The EV monitoring platform is responsible for monitoring various parameters of the vehicle and uploading them to the cloud.

Based on Siruntianlang's solution, WM Motor can realize remote diagnosis, remote control, vehicle security, vehicle information monitoring, data reporting and other functions, and has also packaged the mobile app "Weima Zhixing" supporting these functions to Siruntianlang. Car owners can use the App to remotely turn on the air conditioner, open the door, and check the battery life.
But the relationship between WM Motor and Siruntianlang is like our iQiyi membership for watching dramas, which requires constant renewal to obtain services.

Therefore, behind Weimar, there is a high probability that the capital chain was broken and it failed to settle the payment with Siruntianlang in time. Siruntianlang directly suspended some services.
At that time, Weima owners reported that QQ Music could not be used on their cars. It may be that Weima did not renew the subscription.

Unlike the mobile phone, which only has three major camps: iOS, Android, and Hongmeng, the car systems of various car companies are diverse. Software providers need to carry out adaptive research and development for each car model, and this process costs money.

After the software is installed, it still needs to be continuously updated and maintained, and this process also costs money.

Therefore, if a car company wants to put a certain software on the car, that is, to make a set of adaptations specifically for the car system, it will not only have to pay an installation fee in the early stage of development, but also pay regular maintenance and update fees in the future.

Even the Weimar App provided by Silentianlang has not been renewed. Do you think Weimar still has money to renew QQ Music? And according to reports from other Weimar owners, this is actually not the first time that Weimar has been "disconnected". Similar situations have happened before.

Therefore, we speculate that due to lack of money, Weimar will most likely change from the previous annual payment to quarterly payment or even monthly payment, which will inevitably cause the network to be disconnected from time to time.

Neck Brother also tried the functions of Jiyue App out of curiosity. So far, everything is normal, but it’s hard to say what will happen in the future.
These things may happen to current Jiyue owners one by one...

And even if Ji Yue really cuts off the Internet for car owners, there is nothing the car owners can do... In the user agreement or terms of service of the car company, there will be such a sentence: "If Ji Yue Automobile faces an operating crisis, if the operation of its network services is seriously affected, the network service agreement may be terminated under the conditions of complying with relevant laws and regulations and notifying users in advance." Weimar has similar terms.
It is also included in the user agreements of many car companies such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Audi, Zhiji, Jikrypton, Great Wall Wei, and Great Wall Tank.






I would say that these car companies are too stupid. With just such a clause hidden in the corner, they can terminate the provision of network services to car owners at any time without taking any legal responsibility.

However, this also shows that in the current era of rapidly developing new energy vehicles, after-sales regulations are always half a beat slower than technological development.

In the era of oil trucks, countless car companies went bankrupt and closed down.

On November 29, 2022, Borgward, which has German origin and claimed to be called "BBBA" together with "BBA", declared bankruptcy. After that, many functions of the car can only be seen but not used, and repair parts may not be original. Some netizens bought a Borgward BX7 for RMB 260,000 on the eve of bankruptcy, but it could only be sold for RMB 60,000 five years later.


There is also a generation of sacred cars, the "ground-flying" Saab, which entered the Chinese market in the mid-1990s and filed for bankruptcy in 2011. After that, Saab's domestic after-sales system fell into complete chaos. Nowadays, if you want to repair and maintain a Saab, you basically rely on car enthusiasts to help each other. Many accessories even need to be purchased by car owners themselves. Similar ones include Zotye, Lifan, Huatai, etc.

Because of their bankruptcy, in 2017, the Ministry of Commerce issued the "Automobile Sales Management Measures". It states: "Suppliers should promptly announce to the public the models that have been discontinued or stopped selling, and ensure the supply of spare parts and corresponding after-sales services for at least 10 years thereafter. "
Are there any regulations specifically targeting the after-sales service of new energy vehicles?

Uh... Yes, there is. For example, the "Beijing After-sales Service Specifications for Demonstration Application of New Energy Passenger Vehicles" will be implemented on December 1, 2016, the "Hainan New Energy Vehicle After-sales Service Specifications" will be implemented on January 15, 2021, and the "Electric Passenger Vehicle After-sales Service Specifications" will be officially implemented on January 1, 2023.

But looking through these documents, the only content related to Internet of Vehicles software services is the "Navigation System" from the "Hainan Province New Energy Vehicle After-sales Service Specifications".
This standard strictly requires car companies to ensure the normal operation of navigation systems no matter what the situation. But it’s almost 2025, and the screen in the car has long been responsible for far more than navigation. Just checking the navigation, well... it’s hard to comment.

However, I believe that as automobile intelligence becomes more and more important, how to more extensively protect the rights and interests of all networked services will definitely be the focus of future regulations and policies.

After all, the fact that is before consumers right now is that the first job of a bankrupt car company is to repay debts first, and it is unlikely that there will be money to maintain after-sales services. In order to protect the interests of old car owners, it may be necessary to add some more detailed operating methods on the basis of the existing terms.

For example, when a car company registers, it can be mandatory to prepay a certain amount of backup after-sales fund; or it can be mandatory to unbundle software services from the car company's hardware platform. As long as the software service has revenue, regardless of whether it is given by the car company or the user, it can continue to provide services.. Brother Neck is not a professional in the legal field. I believe that relevant people can definitely give some better and more practical suggestions.

Technically speaking, there are actually ways to avoid the recurrence of "when a car company goes bankrupt, the car cannot be driven."

For example, CarPlay is the first to realize symbiosis between iOS devices and various car-machine systems. The main intelligent services can be provided by mobile phones. The car-machine interconnection mainly focuses on a screen projection function, so it doesn't matter whether the car company goes bankrupt or not. It doesn't matter if the mobile phone factory goes bankrupt, as long as there is a mobile app to use it.

There are also systems like Huawei's HarmonyOS and Meizu's FlymeAuto that provide intelligent services for many models. Under this structure, even if a single car company fails due to poor management, it will not affect the unified platform behind it to continue to provide services to old car owners.


To put it more heart-wrenchingly, soNowadays, when buying a car, you can't just look at whether the car is good or not. The car companies behind it also have to think carefully and choose those car companies that have a big tree at their back so they can enjoy the shade.

If we look back, you will find that the competition in China's automobile industry has been fierce in the past 10 years. In 2018, there were more than 480 electric vehicle manufacturers in China. Now, there are less than 50 that are still operating normally. In the past six years, more than 400 new energy vehicle companies have disappeared.

In 2024, all car companies are engaging in price wars, and those that do not sell well are cutting prices. The Polestar 4, which started at 300,000 yuan at the beginning, has now been reduced to 225,000 with five years of interest-free;
Maybe next year, the car companies you may still be talking about now will face the risk of bankruptcy, reorganization or acquisition. Ideal pessimistically predicted last year that by 2028, there are likely to be only 4-5 domestic smart electric vehicle companies left on the table. This prediction is not entirely alarmist, because if there is no perfect bankruptcy after-sales service, then in the field of smart cars, the Matthew effect will become stronger and stronger. The better the sales of car companies, the more they can reduce manufacturing costs, and the more money they have to provide more software services and autonomous driving services. The more consumers trust them. As long as they don’t commit suicide, they will not die.

Other car companies, if they miss this reshuffle, will be pulled further and further away. If they want to catch up, they will need to invest more funds to pave the way, making it more difficult to compete. Just like the current mobile phone market, there have been no new players for a long time.
Just like now, let me ask you, Weilai, Xiaopeng, and Huawei have all launched a car with similar positioning, performance, price, and even appearance. Who are you most likely to choose?

Still the same sentence,In the era of so-called software-defined cars, ecosystem and software after-sales are also top priorities.

When a mobile phone factory goes bankrupt, everyone scolds the manufacturer and bites the bullet and replaces a mobile phone. It is not a big problem. However, if it is something like a car that costs hundreds of thousands or hundreds of thousands, the smart cockpit is the biggest selling point when buying it, but after a few years of driving it turns into a big brick. This does not treat consumers as human beings.

I hope that this time, everyone will pay attention to the after-sales service of new energy vehicle companies, and laws and regulations will also be activated. When everyone has less worries when buying, they will be willing to trust more niche car companies, making the market more colorful.