Chinese electric car manufacturer WM Motor plans comeback

The electric car startup WM Motor, once supported by Chinese internet group Baidu, went bankrupt in 2023 but wanted to get back into business quickly with a restructuring plan. This took longer than expected, but now the company has announced that it wants to start producing cars again this month.

WM Motor was founded in 2015 and named its vehicle brand after the German word ‘Weltmeister’ (world champion). In April 2018, the company began selling vehicles in China with the Weltmeister EX5 SUV model, followed later by the larger EX6 and two additional models. However, the M7 electric sedan presented in October 2021 never went on sale, and the production start originally planned for 2022 never took place.

As a result of the economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, rising material costs and fragmented supply chains, WM Motor began looking for a saviour instead, but the takeover sought by Kaixin Motor failed, and WM Motor finally went bankrupt in October 2023.

But now it’s time for a comeback: the manufacturer has announced that it intends to resume production at its plant in the eastern Chinese city of Wenzhou and also launch new models on the market. The initial focus will be on the EX5 SUV model and the E5 saloon, with 10,000 to 20,000 units to be produced and sold by the end of the year. This is expected to generate sales of one to two billion yuan (120 to 240 million euros).

This is to be made possible by a new investor, Shenzhen Xiangfei Auto Sales, which has acquired a majority stake in the company. “The resumption of work and production at the new WM Motor has received strong support from the Shanghai and Wenzhou municipal governments, providing a stable and favorable environment,” according to an official microblogging account of WM Motor.

WM Motor has big plans now that it is starting almost from scratch again: more than ten new models are to be introduced over the next five years. The company is already planning an annual production of 100,000 vehicles for 2026 and intends to hire 3,000 employees for this purpose. The target for 2027/28 is 250,000 to 400,000 vehicles. And by 2030, the company wants to achieve an annual production of one million units and is aiming for a turnover of 120 billion yuan (approx. 14.4 billion euros). That would be more than Chinese electric car brands such as Leapmotor, Nio, and Xpeng generate today.

reuters.com, carnewschina.com, cnevpost.com

This article was first published by Florian Treiß for electrive’s German edition.