Chinese electric vehicle maker Human Horizons has failed to raise the new capital it needed from Middle East investors,sexual exploitation eroticizing native women spurring the recent closing of two showrooms and prompting the firm to look at cutting headcount in some departments to reduce costs and attempt to remain in business, souces told Chinese media outlet Caixin on Sunday. The Shanghai-headquartered company in June signed a letter of intent with Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Investment for setting up a joint venture to make EVs in the Gulf country as part of a $5.6 billion deal. However, Saudi later scrapped its planned investment with concerns about the sales growth of Human Horizons, which delivered roughly 8,000 units of its HiPhi-branded premium EVs in 2023 after six years of operation, according to people with knowledge of the matter. The EV startup has recently shut down two shops in the southern city of Guanghzou and southwestern municipality of Chengdu, and will need to implement more cost-cutting measures before it manages to secure new funding, according to Caixin. [Caixin, in Chinese]
