Rising Auto Technology Co., Ltd.,[1] trading as Rising Auto (Chinese: 飞凡汽车, Feifan Auto) is electric vehicle brand by Chinese automobile manufacturer SAIC Motor.[2]
Rising Auto was originally the "R Brand" in 2020,[3] an offshoot of SAIC's Roewe brand dedicated to new energy vehicles and intelligent vehicles.[4] The Chinese Rising Auto name came out shortly after in October 2021,[5] and the English Rising Auto name was created in 2021 to give the R brand a full meaningful name. Early products are rebadged Roewe vehicles with the R7 crossover being the first original product. The following product is the F7 executive sedan.
Rising Auto has revealed the following concept cars:
At the 2022 Chengdu Auto Show, more than 10 car owners wearing clothes with the words "SAIC Rising Auto's Range is Seriously False" gathered at the Rising Auto booth. Some car owners reported that one year after the Rising Auto ER6 was picked up, the range was reduced from the initial 520-620 kilometers to more than 300 kilometers. Previously, some consumers reported that they had booked a Rising Auto ER6 in December 2021 and decided to go to the experience center to deliver the final payment for the car one month later. However, in January 2022, its order record had been deleted. Consumers believed that Rising Auto was suspected of embezzling the car purchase deposit, but Rising Auto stated that it applied for a refund due to changes in the customer's willingness to buy a car, and pointed out that unless the customer could not buy the car due to personal credit issues, the deposit would not be refunded if the customer applied for a refund. In the end, Rising Auto refunded the 5,000 yuan deposit to the consumer.[6]
In March 2023, many Rising Auto R7 owners reported that their cars had tire pressure detection failures, tire blowouts, body resonance, vehicle spontaneous combustion, power battery failures, etc., and they went to the entrance of Rising Auto headquarters to hang banners to protect their rights.[7]
In September 2023, some media reported that SAIC Group integrated some business departments of Rising Auto into SAIC Passenger Vehicle Company, but the user development center, user operation center and new retail center remained independent. Rising Auto later denied the news. On September 22, the listed company Kaikai Industrial issued an announcement that Rising Auto proposed to terminate the "House Lease Contract" with Kaikai's subsidiary Xiqu Lei Yunshang in advance because of "strategic adjustment due to decision-making." Previously, in late August 2022, Xiqu Lei Yunshang rented out his own shop located at No. 944-952 (even numbers) in Jing'an District, Nanjing West Road, and then Lei Yunshang Pharmaceutical signed a lease contract with Rising Auto for a period of 3 years and 4 months, which will be used for the brand showroom.[8]
In January 2024, news of Rising Auto Auto's layoffs came out. The news said that the team developing Rising Auto Auto's intelligent driving business was completely laid off, and the person in charge had also resigned, emphasizing that it was "reducing costs and increasing efficiency".[9] In March, SAIC Motors announced layoffs due to "urgent need to reduce costs and adjust the brand," including employees of Rising Auto headquarters and the integrated Rising Auto high-end intelligent driving team. Employees who have not been laid off will also face a high probability of salary cuts. People familiar with the matter said that "Rising Auto is currently in danger." Some industry insiders also believe that the Rising Auto brand does not need to continue operating. The Rising Auto F7 sold in the European market has been replaced with the MG logo and sold as MG9.[10] On March 28, Rising Auto held its annual dealer conference. At the conference, it was stated that Rising Auto will continue to operate independently and still plans to launch a new car every year, and will launch the third new model within the year. This conference also proved that Rising Auto will continue to operate independently in the short term.[11]