WM Motor files for bankruptcy
Times seem to be tough for China’s WM Motor, the company behind EV brand Weltmeister. The Shanghai-based company has filed for bankruptcy.
The Chinese EV automaker, founded in 2015, said to be one of China’s most promising EV brand start-ups, is now undergoing bankruptcy proceedings as disclosed in a recent filing, dated October 9, 2023, in China’s national enterprise bankruptcy information disclosure platform.
According to a report by Reuters, the Chinese automaker said that it has been caught in operational issues in recent years due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, capital market sluggishness, fluctuations in pricing of raw materials, and various setbacks in gaining capital needed for operations and development.
Prior to this, the apparently struggling WM Motor tried to enter into an acquisition agreement with US-listed used car dealer Kaixin Auto Holdings. A deal for a reverse takeover with Hong Kong-listed Apollo Future Mobility also fell through.
WM Motor was founded in January 2015 by Freeman Shen, a former executive of Geely Auto and later chairman of Volvo’s China operations. For the Philippines, the Weltmeister brand entered the market in July 2022 as WM Motor Philippines, under the distributorship of EVOxTerra, Inc.
As for how this bankruptcy filing will affect Philippine operations, we do not know yet.
