Xia Yiping, CEO of Jikrypton, A Letter to Employees, Car Owners, and Partners, and a Vision for the Future

Xia Yiping, CEO of Jikrypton, A Letter to Employees, Car Owners, and Partners, and a Vision for the FutureRumors about Jikrypton and myself have been circulating widely these past few days. As CEO of Jikrypton, I feel it necessary to clarify the facts and express my sincere apologies and future plans to everyone concerned about Jikrypton's fate, especially our employees, car owners, suppliers, and shareholders

Xia Yiping, CEO of Jikrypton, A Letter to Employees, Car Owners, and Partners, and a Vision for the Future

Rumors about Jikrypton and myself have been circulating widely these past few days. As CEO of Jikrypton, I feel it necessary to clarify the facts and express my sincere apologies and future plans to everyone concerned about Jikrypton's fate, especially our employees, car owners, suppliers, and shareholders.

First, let me state unequivocally: I have not "run away." Jikrypton Automotive is my lifelong passion. It embodies my dreams and hard work, and I will never give up easily. During these challenging times, my colleagues and I have fought side-by-side, weathering the most uncertain and helpless moments. I firmly believe that honesty is the best approach to problem-solving. Therefore, I am willing to openly admit my mistakes and take responsibility for them.

I am not merely a professional manager; I am a true entrepreneur. I invested my own savings into Jikrypton's startup and, when the company faced difficulties, used my personal funds to protect the interests of some employees. For Jikrypton, I once worked continuously for 24 hours without sleep, conducting a 2000-kilometer intelligent driving test, even risking a car and passenger falling into a river during an unmapped intelligent driving test on a pontoon bridge. All this stems from my love for Jikrypton Automotive and my unwavering commitment to this cause.

Jikrypton's success is inseparable from the strong support of investors like Baidu and Geely, and even more so from the hard work of all Jikrypton employees. It is thanks to Baidu's profound technical expertise in artificial intelligence and Geely's extensive experience in automotive manufacturing that we were able to create the highly acclaimed Jikrypton 01 and Jikrypton 07 models in such a short time. I sincerely thank every investor, Mr. Robin Li and Mr. Li Shufu, for their trust and support, and for giving me the opportunity to embark on this wonderful journey of car manufacturing.

When the Jikrypton 07 was launched, I felt immense happiness and pride. I liken the Jikrypton 01 to my son and the Jikrypton 07 to my daughter; now that I have both a son and a daughter, I feel deeply gratified. I also want to thank all Jikrypton colleagues and suppliers; your wisdom and hard work have jointly created these two products we are proud of, adding a rich and vibrant stroke to the history of the development of China's intelligent vehicles. Every achievement Jikrypton has made today embodies the blood, sweat, and tears of every Jikrypton employee, and every member of the Jikrypton team should be proud of it.

However, I must admit that I have made many mistakes that have led Jikrypton to its current predicament. I was too eager to sell the Jikrypton 01 and Jikrypton 07, and this urgency became a stumbling block to the company's development. As CEO, I feel a heavy responsibility and sincerely apologize for my mistakes to our employees, car owners, suppliers, and shareholders.

My mistakes primarily lie in the following areas:

Strategic Planning: I was overly optimistic in the early stages, underestimating the difficulty and capital requirements of car manufacturing and failing to fully anticipate the severity of the funding issues, which planted significant financial risks for the company. During the Jidu brand phase, my judgment regarding regulatory risks was insufficient, leading to erroneous decisions and near-fatal setbacks for the company.

Personnel Decisions: I had serious problems in matching talent to key positions. Some core business leaders lacked the necessary industry experience, resulting in the team's inability to effectively handle key tasks.

Management Style: I focused too much on details and micromanagement, neglecting the team's initiative and creativity, suppressing employee enthusiasm, and missing many opportunities to correct problems. My strong-handed management style also caused harm to employees and partners.

Marketing: I overemphasized marketing activities, personally managing the marketing system, which diverted my attention, causing other important matters to be neglected and weakening the progress of core work such as strategic planning and fundraising.

All these errors stem from my lack of experience and limited understanding. This was my first time serving as CEO. I aspired to perfection but overlooked my own shortcomings. My inflexibility and even strong-handedness brought negative consequences. I admit that as CEO, I have failed to live up to everyone's trust.

However, this experience has taught me valuable lessons. I have come to realize that an excellent CEO should focus more on strategic planning, raise personnel standards, strengthen organizational development, and give the team full trust and empowerment.

Although Jikrypton currently faces enormous challenges, I will not give up. I will summon my strength, actively fulfill corporate social responsibility, properly address issues with employees, car owners, and suppliers, take full responsibility, and do my utmost to make amends for past mistakes, leading the company back on track.

The mistakes I made were my mistakes. But I implore you not to negate Jikrypton's achievements in product design, research and development, and intelligent upgrades because of me. I am proud of our products.

The Jikrypton team's fighting spirit is ingrained in each of us. Just last night, our engineers were working through the night to develop an offline system to ensure that even in the worst-case scenario of a network outage, Jikrypton car owners can still use the SIMO system.

Over the past three years, Jikrypton has grown from zero to one, with models from the Jikrypton 01 to the Jikrypton 07, and sales increasing from a few hundred units to a few thousand. Every step we have taken has been solid and thoughtful. We firmly believe that China's automotive industry needs cutting-edge original designs and smarter, safer driving experiences.

With a deep understanding of artificial intelligence technology, the Jikrypton team has pioneered the design concept of AI vehicles. The Jikrypton 01 and Jikrypton 07 are the only two Chinese models to win the iF, Good Design, and Red Dot Design Awards. Our SIMO voice interaction system and pure vision-based intelligent driving capabilities have been widely recognized by car owners and have won first place multiple times in intelligent driving competitions. But for me, more important than these awards is how many people Jikrypton's intelligent driving technology can help, making their travel easier and more convenient.

These past few days, I have received many blessings from Jikrypton car owners. Their heartfelt messages have deeply moved me. "I really don't want to part with SIMO, thank you for SIMO's companionship..." "I really love SIMO, and I don't want you guys to just disappear..." "Jikrypton, fighting! Car owners are waiting for you to get better..." Message after message brought tears to my eyes.

I'm determined to rise again for you all! I will do everything in my power to keep Jikrypton alive, not to let down every comrade who has fought for Jikrypton, and not to let down every car owner who loves and cherishes Jikrypton.

I know the road ahead is still full of challenges, but I believe that as long as we unite as one and work together, we will surely overcome the difficulties and recreate our past glory. Thank you all!